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Christmas is over. My grandsons are busy playing with both their new and older LEGO sets and loving them. My grand-teenager loves her gifts as well, including her new sweater and Christmas praise and worship music on CD. Wii fun with great Wii games for kids is strong in all the grandkid households.
And I am loving the sweet family memories shining brightly in new family photos. Some members of the Sandwich Generation may be traveling today, while others are settling in by the fire to read new books and hide from snow, sleet, or rain outside.
Kind of reminds me of the Christmas story. Some of the characters stayed put, enjoying family time alone with a new baby – one who was the Savior of the World. Others traveled, like the Wise Men – seeking the Messiah. Following that train of thought, an interesting article caught my eye. I don’t remember anything about it except for the writer’s comment, “The kings continued on.” Simple words, but the more I thought about them, the more they resonated with me. Their path couldn’t have been smooth. The way wasn’t always clean. People who should have appreciated them didn’t. Others who were supposed to help them actually went out of their way to hurt them! Sometimes the star disappeared and the nighttime must have seemed so dark and bleak. Yet, the wise men continued on. And through it all, whether they realized it or not, God was watching over them – leading them – guiding them – protecting them and the Babe Who would be the Savior of the world!
Sweet thoughts from this lovely Christmas praise and worship music. Isn’t our Sandwich Generation life like that many times? When we are dealing with so many different family members as we stay busy caring for elderly parents while raising kids and/or helping with the grandkids, personalities can easily clash. Exhaustion can turn the day into a bleak dark night. And the very ones we are trying to help can turn on us, particularly those with dementia symptoms. Yet, no matter how it seems, God is in our lives! He is watching out for us! He is guiding and leading and caring for us. And when we are feeling particularly depressed or down, we need to cling to the comforting and encouraging Bible verses we’ve been reading these past few months and choose to believe, choose to continue on even when the way is dark, choose to cling to Hebrews 11:1:
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
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And yes, as I thought about these things and wrote this article, I was feeling a bit down in the dumps – primarily because of too little sleep due to caregiving needs. Something else we, in the Sandwich Generation, know all too well. 🙂 But as I reminded myself of these things, while listening to the lovely and encouraging Christmas praise and worship music. I did start to feel better. I pray that these words, and the sprightly version of We Three Kings from one of my Grand-Teen’s fave albums, Aly and Jj’s Acoustic Hearts of Winter (click play in the Smilebox ecard above), will bless and encourage you as well.
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