A Season of Longing
December 13, 2025 — Emily Matuza
The traditions of the season are all around us. For the griever, this can cause a sensory overload — the tastes, the smells, the sounds, the lights and even the different textures that we touch.
Our memories of this time through past years of this season hold such joy. Our families felt whole. Now, we do all that we can to see God's plan and cling to the real reason for the season, but it is excruciating. It can be a despairing time during grief. You may feel further away from God right now, and the energy it takes for you to physically process the sensory side has taken your thoughts on that familiar ride. In John 16:33, Jesus said, “But take heart, I have overcome the world.” I know Heaven is top of mind when our grief-ridden thoughts take us to these places of helplessness. But take heart…surrender it all to God and ask the Holy Spirit to intervene and help you find hope again.
We are told in Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” For many of us, our fulfilled desire awaits us in Heaven and our heart isn’t well, but we can rest assured that God is near to our broken hearts and at work. In Psalm 147:3, we read, ”He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
Sometimes we just lack the spiritual stamina to let God work in us and through us. It takes work to surrender. Encircling our minds, feelings such as fear, anger and regret are a barrier to hope, but are often part of the process. It takes energy that we sometimes feel we do not have. But, you don’t have to do it on your own! God is guiding you through it— He’s right beside you. He hurts for you, and that is why he sent his Son, our Savior, to fulfill a promise of hope.
Before our grief story, the traditions of this season, the lights and sounds, the cards and gifts, were wonderful. It is now a season of longing. We long for those joyous memories of this time that are treasured in our minds. Those memories are gifts for us, even in the pain. We also long for Heaven. The only way for us to get through the sensory overload around us is to cling to the hope given to us by God through his Son, Jesus, the real reason for this season. The fulfilled desire. The promise kept.
This journey feels especially isolating right now as your emotions are the opposite of what you see around you. It is good to remember God accepts us right where we are — He does not expect us to have that joy that surrounds us.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a famous poet in the 1800’s who wrote the poem that led to the familiar Christmas song, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” He found himself deeply grieving during this season and despair had taken hold, leaving his heart sickened. During that time, he wrote, “Every man has his secret sorrow the world knows not; and oftentimes we call a man cold when he is only sad.” Longfellow felt surrounded by unrealistic expectations of joy at a time in grief. As his story goes, it was the sound of the church holiday bell that God used to help Longfellow find HOPE again.
Look for God as you grieve this season.
