With Christmas approaching, there were two songs that I did not want to hear—too painful— “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Christmas in Dixie.”

Beginning in late November one of them played on the radio often—too much.  “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”  Written in 1943 to honor soldiers who longed to be home for Christmas, the song reminded me personally of my own bittersweet Christmas experience.

In 1967 my husband Gerry and I were in Seoul, Korea, where he was stationed with the Army.  Communication during that time was limited to snail mail—no e-mail, cell phones, just letters.  We were both 23 years old and had never been away from our families at Christmas.  Living in a small rented room with a Korean family in downtown Seoul, we had each other but little else.  Packages came in the mail, we opened them, and then we celebrated Christ’s birth very quietly far from “home.”

We did, however, look forward to Christmas 1968.  Gerry would be discharged in October, and we would go “home.”  We would celebrate not only a change in location but also a new baby, for we had just learned we were expecting our first child.  “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” was in many ways a song of promise because we looked forward to a new life in a new home with family and friends and a new family member as well.

In time, we did come “home.”  Our first dear son Jeff was born in August 1968.  Two other precious sons—Jonathan and Joe—followed.  Our lives were full.  We were, we thought, “home.”

And then Gerry passed away on January 10, 2016.  Christmas would never be the same.  I was a widow with cherished memories.  “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” now made me sad—not glad.

Another secular Christmas song that I dreaded hearing was “Christmas in Dixie.”  When the song was first published in 1982, Gerry was traveling with his job and often went to Fort Payne, Alabama, home of the singing group Alabama who performed the song.  We loved the song and the group and often danced together when it was playing.  It was, in some ways, “our” Christmas song.  The thoughts of it now made me very sad.

Christmas season, 2017, began before Thanksgiving.  My favorite radio station played beloved Christmas carols often and secular Christmas songs occasionally.   To my dismay, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” seemed to play every time I turned on the radio; and every time I heard it, I felt an overwhelming sadness.  Interestingly, though, “Christmas in Dixie” never played while I was listening—and I was relieved.

Then Christmas Day finally arrived.  Our family celebrated with a time of Bible reading, worship and even the Lord’s supper—traditions we practice as we try to keep our focus on Jesus and not on the world’s commercialized ideas for celebrating this holy day.

We then shared Christmas dinner and headed to the living room to open gifts.  My son Joe reached for the radio and turned up the volume just as I was getting ready to settle into my easy chair.  To my utter surprise, “Christmas in Dixie” rang through the air.  Suddenly grief stricken, I blurted out, “Turn that off, please!”  Startled, Joe complied but was genuinely puzzled.  A music lover, he wants music playing all the time—which it had been all day.  I think he was disappointed that our sharing of gifts took place in silence, but he said nothing.

As the family began to clean up wrapping paper and empty boxes, I felt I owed Joe an explanation.  I went to him and shared why the song bothered me.  To my amazement, he looked at me and with a keen sense of discernment and whispered,” Mom, do you think it could have been something else?  Look at it from another perspective.   Perhaps it was a Christmas present from above,” as he pointed upward.

I was flabbergasted.  Had I missed a message from God?  Could it be possible that I was misunderstanding the events around me and failing to hear from Him because of a troubled heart and mind?  Had He sent me messages of comfort that I had failed to receive?  Was He reassuring me that, in time, I would be “Home for Christmas?”  Then for the first time this year, I allowed the refrain from Christmas In Dixie to wash over me, “God bless you all, we love you, Happy New Year, good night, Merry Christmas.”  What a wonderful Christmas blessing—both here on earth and in heaven!  And I almost missed it!

The following morning as I relived Christmas night and read my devotional meditations for the new day, the “Still Small Voice” seemed to give me three thoughts:

• First, my dear husband, Gerry, was “home” for Christmas, and one day I’ll be moving there, too. “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.”  (2 Cor. 5:1 NLT) In fact, Jesus promised us, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”  (John 14:1-3 NKJV)
• Second, whether we live in Jackson, Mississippi, Charlotte, Caroline, or Fort Payne, Alabama, this is not our permanent home! We have a better place waiting for us, and we get to move there one day!  We are, in fact, “foreigners and nomads here on earth . . . looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland.”  (Hebrews 11:14-, 16 NLT)
• Third, we as Christians are on “assignment” here in this world. Jesus commissioned us, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NLT)

We have work to do!  We are to be Christ’s ambassadors in a lost and weary land.   ^“God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’  For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”  (2 Cor. 5:20-21 NLT)

If you think about it, ambassadors serve all over the world in places not called home,  In time, though, they do go home—just like we will one day!  What a joyful thought!  Home—with Gerry, Garrett, Mom, Dad, Joyce, Boyd, Dean, Jason, Mama, Papa, countless loved ones already there—HOME!

In the meantime, we may need to change our perspective on what’s going on around us.  We may indeed need to view our circumstances  with a renewed mind and attitude.  To my own delight, I am now humming “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Christmas in Dixie.”   What once brought pain now brings joy—for I see things from a very different viewpoint!

What about you?  Has the Lord ever revealed something to you and you totally missed the message until someone helped you see the bigger picture?  Do memories that once brought pain now bring joy because the “Still Small Voice” has changed your way of looking at them?  I’d love to hear of your experiences!   Feel free to share any thoughts or comments in the space below.

For now, along with Alabama, let me say “God bless you all, we love you, Happy New Year, Good night, Merry Christmas”!!!