Three Stockings

This Christmas, I walked into my tried and true friend's house.
She always makes her house smile.
It smelled delicious and the decorations winked at me from the walls.

But when I looked at her mantle, I saw three big, fat teardrops.

Three stockings.
Three stockings instead of 4.

And I could not shake those 3 lonely stockings.
How she had the gumption to hang only three stockings this year.
How she must have felt while doing it.
Knowing that the 4th person was off hanging his stocking elsewhere.

I don't think I could have hung the stockings if it were me.
But that is how my friend is.
Strong.
Faithful.
Mindful of the little hands that will open the stockings on Christmas morning.

I left thinking her stocking must feel pretty empty this year.

So I asked God.... why, how and help.

He reminded me that Mary and Joseph had one less stocking to hang themselves.

Though Jesus did rise from the dead, he very soon separated from his earthly mother and father, who loved him dearly. Regardless of God's higher ways, I feel absolutely positive it was heart-wrenching for them. He completed their family. Then He was gone.

From a very humanly perspective, it makes no sense.

Why would the person who was prophesied to be the ruler of a new Kingdom die a horrible death and then come back to life only to go away again? For that matter, why was the King born in a stable? If you think about it all from their perspectives, it doesn't make sense. But now we understand. There was plan all along.

From an earthly perspective, those 3 stocking are 3 daggers to the heart. It makes no earthly sense for a God-fearing woman to have to hang only 3 stockings to celebrate the birth of her Lord and Savior. I don't come close to understanding it.

However, God whispers that He does have a plan. A higher plan. A plan we don't understand but that will glorify Him to the highest. "Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.'

And as for the three stockings....I feel badly about those images. If (when) my friend reads this, I don't want to leave her with that visual in her mind! So, I'm going to try something different:

They should not be three tears or three daggers, but they should represent from now on, the One who is enacting His plan, and my friend's faith in Him...

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.