Gathering Near

The first time I read the book Jane Eyre I was around 17 years old. I read it over the Christmas holidays and once I started, I couldn’t put it down. I remember hiding up in my room, deep in the story, barely aware of the busy bustling downstairs as my mom, dad and others got ready for Christmas dinner. I should have helped but I didn’t—I just read on and on, wanting to know what would happen next.

The delicious aroma of Christmas dinner drifted up the stairs to my room and intensified my empathy for Jane, a young woman who was orphaned in childhood and ended up working as a governess at Thornfield, an enormous, lonely estate. When my mom called me to come downstairs I was at the part in the story where Jane had just run away from Thornfield. She was cold, weak, and hungry when some kind people found her, welcomed her into their home, and offered her a warm meal.

I closed the book, my mind still full of the story I’d been reading—the memory of Jane—cold, weak, and hungry. Christmas music mingled with laughter and conversation as I walked down the stairs. The warmth of our home seemed suddenly new—everything bathed in light.

That sense of awe continued all through the evening. Every face felt like a gift. All the colors shone deeper and brighter and the fireplace had an especially cozy glow.

I know so many people whose holidays are complicated and at times painful. Maybe you are coming into this Christmas season feeling cold, weak, hungry and in need of kindness. I’m praying right now, even as I type this letter, that God will meet you right where you are in such a way that you know it’s Him gathering you near and offering you a place at the table.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

~2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Blessings to you this Christmas season as the God of all comfort gathers you near.

~Amy