Emptiness
The holidays are often painted as a season of joy, celebration, and connection, but for many, it can be a time when emptiness feels especially heavy. The glittering lights and festive music can serve as painful reminders of what feels absent—a sense of peace, purpose, or God’s presence.
Emptiness during the holidays can stem from unmet expectations, grief over loved ones who are no longer here, the weight of family dynamics or personal struggles that don’t pause for the season. It’s easy to feel disconnected from the joy others seem to radiate or to wonder why God feels distant and silent.
But the message of Christmas itself speaks directly to moments like these. The story of Jesus’ birth is not one of perfection or fanfare. It’s the story of a young couple fleeing a community due to an unplanned pregnancy, of a couple looking for a place to stay with no rooms other than a stable with the animals, of a baby laid in a long open trough that was designed for horses and cattle to eat from. It’s a story of God literally meeting us in the midst of mess, fear, and longing. Christ came into a broken world to fill its emptiness with His love and hope. He was born in a humble manger, surrounded by ordinary people who were in need of —peace, redemption, and Emmanuel, “God with us.”
If you’re feeling spiritually empty, take heart in knowing that God isn’t asking you to have it all together. He invites you to come as you are, with all your doubts, weariness, and pain. Just as the shepherds and wise men brought what they had to the manger; you can bring your emptiness to Him. It’s in surrendering that we create space for Him to fill us with His presence.
In some ways the recognition of being empty can be a beginning again; a time where we allow God to fill us rather trying to fill it with things and activities that are temporary. Simply sitting in silence, let Him remind you that His light shines brightest in the darkness.
This holiday season, set aside moments of quiet reflection to invite God into your emptiness. Through prayer, reading Scripture, ask Him to fill your emptiness. Pray Psalm 25: 16-18 “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my distresses. Look on my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins. “
Look for Him in moments of silence. Soul Care suggest that we look for 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste that signifies God’s presence. In nature you can hear the sound of the wind in the trees, you can see the stars against a velvet sky, you can taste the salt of the ocean waves, you can smell the aroma of rain and touch the petals of a flower. Simply sitting in silence and looking for God’s presence can be restorative.
Proverbs 8:17 tells us that …“those who seek me diligently will find me”.
You don’t have to feel spiritually full to encounter the truth of Christmas. Christ came for the weary, the lonely, and the brokenhearted. In the stillness of your soul, His peace can begin to take root, reminding you that you are not alone, and that even in emptiness, God is with you and He came for YOU.
Psalm 19:7-11
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul.
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
The judgments of the Lord are true and altogether righteous.
They are more desirable than gold, than much pure gold,
They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
Moreover, by them is Your servant warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.