Christmas Letter 2020

Dear Friends,

I’ve been writing this Christmas letter since my early twenties and this will have to be the hardest one to write after such an unusual and crazy year.  For weeks, I’ve been trying to determine how I will pull together a year that had a pandemic, political frenzy, riots, hurricanes, fires, my mother getting cancer and a 31-day panic of Facebook-denied access - all in an inspiring Christmas letter.   I can only pray that God will show me as I write this.

Perhaps, I should try to focus on what I learned from this year and the positive aspects of such a negative, challenging time.

In regards to COVID-19, among the heart-breaking sadness it has brought, like all of America, I’ve witnessed heroes among us with healthcare workers experiencing the unbearable, first responders performing against the odds and essential workers such as food suppliers, bankers, and gas station workers showing up daily to serve customers among the risk.  When we are not arguing about the so-called-deny-of-freedom with wearing a mask or focusing on not being able to dine in at a restaurants, we can see the strength of the human spirit with the flexibility, creativeness and diligence that small business owners, teachers and others have performed.  It is truly inspiring to consider what people have been able to accomplish and how we’ve managed with the removal of blessings that we took for granted such as gatherings, hugs, travel and more.

The pandemic also caused most of us to work from home and several parents became teachers as well to their children.  The challenges have been real, but I consider the option to work from home a real blessing.  For me, it fits well with my desire to focus and while I miss some things that were offered in a work environment, we’ve been able to manage as a team quite well.

Now, we have the hope of vaccines already being distributed.  I continue to hear in the news, “thanks to science” or “trust the science” which I agree, but you would think after such a crisis, as a nation, we would be reminded that all good things come from God, and it is He who we can give thanks to for providing the wisdom to scientists and for daily carrying us through all of this.  “In God We Trust”...have we trusted him?  God uses all things for the good for those called according to his purpose, and while the Devil probably considers 2020 one of his best years, God can even use a year like this to draw us closer to Him.

I realized that on July 21st when a hacker gained access to my personal email, then took over my Facebook and Instagram profiles and reeked additional havoc.  For 30 days, I tried everything that you can imagine to get my Facebook account back and finally on day 31, I received an email from Facebook that my pages had been restored - even after telling me earlier “Your situation has been reviewed and your accounts are permanently deactivated.  The decision will not be reversed.”  Sadly, I had considerable panic and anxiety during those days, which sort of frightened me, honestly, on how much control social networks had on me mentally and as a society.  But I prayed every day, and was diligent about seeking God’s word during this time; even with this, He used this craziness to draw me closer to Him.  And He is still using the situation for good, because - since you can Google “Facebook pages hacked in 2020” and my story comes up on the first page (shocking) - I’ve had people from New York to Oregon reach out to me for guidance because the same thing has happened to them.  Among other advise, I always say, “Honestly, I prayed every day and I suggest you do the same.”

During those 31 days, as if the year had not brought enough, our family received the news that Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.  It was early stages, but extensive chemo, surgery and likely radiation would be required.  My mother is a rock, a pillar of strength in my eyes and a mentor of true faith.  But she watched her own mother endure tremendous pain with breast cancer and she died when my mom was only 34 years old.  Here my mom was...a mother of three kids, married for a second time for only five years after a rocky first marriage, and she lived next door to her parents...and cancer - particularly in the 1970s - was brutal to her mother.  So when Mom heard the news, it took her right back to taking care of my grandma.  It was easy for the Devil to feel like he had another win.

Opal Talley

My grandmother, Opal Talley, holding my mother and then holding me in 1969. She died of breast cancer in 1977.

But among a pandemic with limited opportunities for in-person love and support, we have witnessed a community of friends and family reach out to my mom with an outpouring of cards, prayers, food and gifts.  I’ve been able to deliver a card every day to my mom thanks to the generosity and thoughtfulness of others.  It has reminded Mom and our family what a blessing it is to have true friends and random acts of kindness from even the least expected.  Again, God truly can use all things for His good.

With my mom’s situation, it made me think what would I do without my mom.  I am 52 years old and I still contact her daily with questions from gardening to cooking to antiques - wanting her advice among anything you can find on Google.  As a child, I didn’t dream of the sadness that my mom was experiencing when she lost her own mother so young.

It makes me think of the relationship with Jesus and Mary and the role she played in his life.  When the angel informed her of the almost-unbelievable news that she would bear God’s son, she asked questions and then said, “I am the Lord’s slave, may it be done to me according to your word.”  She was obedient, despite the risk.  When she saw that the angel’s words regarding her relative’s (Elizabeth) pregnancy were true, she praised God, stating He found favor in her as a humble servant and “from now on, all generations will call me blessed.”  She further mentions, “His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him,” which makes me think of the current vaccines.  After giving birth to Jesus and the shepherds came to see them, then later left to spread the good news, it states, “Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.”  When Jesus was a child, Simeon - a man in the temple - held Jesus and praising God, said, “my eyes have now seen your salvation.”  He blessed Joseph and Mary, but then looked at Mary and said, “This child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and will be a sign that will be opposed - and a sword that will pierce your own soul - that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”  Mary knew then that Jesus would do great things, but it would come with deep sorrow also.  When Jesus was 12 years old, his parents lost him for more than three days.  He was in Jerusalem at the temple, sitting among teachers - listening and asking them questions.  After his parents found him, Jesus returned to Nazareth and was obedient to his parents after that and it states, “his mother kept all these things in her heart.”  Later when Jesus and his disciples were traveling, they were invited to a wedding, as well as Mary.  They ran out of wine at the wedding and Mary understood her son’s role in this world before anyone else did.  This was before he had performed miracles, but she simply informed him of the need and told the servants to do whatever Jesus asked, and he turned water into wine.  Mary had faith in her son and believed in his power before anyone else.  When Jesus was dying on the cross, his mother was standing by, as well as the “disciple that He loved.”  (I can not imagine what Mary experienced having to watch her son be crucified.) Jesus spoke to them, “Woman, here is your son” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother” to ensure that someone would be taking care of his mother.

From beginning to end, there was a bond between Jesus and Mary, a mother to God’s only son, that was worthy of this many points in the Bible and likely more.  No matter what we’ve gone through this year, whether we have lost loved ones or if we’re battling a disease or we simply have extremely limited exposure to our parents due to COVID-19, no one understands that love more than Jesus.  And we so often forget, the only reason we have any celebration at Christmas - or that we have the holiday at all - is simply to rejoice in the birth of Jesus, the obedience of his parents for allowing God to work in their lives and the grace and mercy that God has had on his people.

Tomorrow night (Dec. 21st), for the first time in 800 years, humankind can again witness the Star of Bethlehem, thanks to Jupiter and Saturn aligning perfectly.  How ironic that we are alive to see such a rare occurrence during a year that all of us have gone through so much.

I hope you’ll join me in walking outside to view this shining star.  Take a deep breath and be grateful for what God has done for us this year and will continue to do.  Be reminded that Christmas is about the gift of everlasting life, while also showing us a story - if we look harder - of a mother’s enduring love.  

2020 reminded me to not take any blessing for granted.  It’s not an experience that I want to repeat, but I am grateful for the lesson.

Christmas will certainly not be the same this year; our family will not gather like we have normally done.  But we will find other ways to celebrate Jesus’s birth that day and will hope for a special gathering in 2021.

Love to you all...Merry Christmas,

Jennifer