Hello everyone! It's the holidays. Are you feeling it yet? I remember when I was working outside the home, and I felt like I just couldn't get Christmas right. My time was limited. My funds were limited. And Christmas Eve or the day before would be just like a blur. I hated that feeling.

Eventually, I was able to leave that job. Even though I loved it, and start working for myself. It was from home, and I thought that now I can do Christmas right. I thought I would conquer Christmas and be able to rest and delight in it. Guess what happens when you work from home? Your time is still limited. Your funds are still Limited. Maybe even more so.

There aren't enough Starbucks peppermint mochas in the world or Hallmark movies to slow down the busyness of the season. I don't think highly enough of myself that I'm going to fix it with this one podcast. I'm not even going to try. Christmas is busy. Christmas is costly. It was that way for your parents, your grandparents, and it'll be that way for your kids.

So what I'm actually going to talk about today is what do we do when the holidays are upon us, but we are grieving. It's one thing to be busy, but it's another thing entirely to be broken. On Christmas morning 2005 at 6:30 am, my son Elisha Cooper Radke came into this world. An hour later we were handing him back to God. This is what it's like to be broken on Christmas.

Show Notes:

• [04:04] Elisha came, stayed for one hour and he left. Christmas has never been the same.
• [04:54] Every Christmas Eve around 10:40 p.m. I will feel a pain in my heart. It happens every year at that time, because that's when I went into labor.
• [06:09] I tell people that I walk with a limp through the holidays and I do and I probably always will.
• [07:06] I have a feeling that today some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.
• [08:29] For some of you, this will be your first Christmas without your spouse or your child. It could be your first Christmas without a job, home or best friend.
• [09:43] This episode is for you. There is nothing wrong with you. I'm speaking to anyone and everyone who walks with a limp at Christmas time.
• [10:33] We are drawn to Hallmark movies because everything ends up perfectly.
• [11:10] Holidays are the time of year when we want everything to end up perfectly.
• [11:46] A day will come when love fills the room more than pain does. The pain of what you lost will pale in comparison to the joy of what you found.
• [12:54] Take a moment and look around. Everyone is hurting with their own pain. Pain comes to us all. So does love.
• [15:52] If things had happened differently, would I have experienced the same joy and pain? Would Christmas mean as much? Even though I walk with a limp on Christmas, love has the final say.
• [17:31] I wouldn't choose it, but I wouldn't change it.

Thanks for joining us on Ordinary People Ordinary Things. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review. Just like your mother taught you.

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