A Prayer for the Lonely Holidays

Father, everyone else seems to be gathered somewhere warm, and the photos keep scrolling past, tables full of faces while my table is set for one. The lights are pretty and they make the quiet hurt more.

I confess I have been performing fine all season, smiling in the checkout line, saying I am doing great, while inside I am bracing for another evening with no one to tell about my day.

So I stop pretending with You. You were born into a borrowed stable, you know what it is to have no room kept for you. You understand this kind of ache from the inside.

Meet me in this small, lit-up loneliness. Multiply the ordinary, a warm drink, a familiar song, a quiet prayer, into something that feels like presence. You promised to be Immanuel, God with us, and tonight I need the with.

I give You this holiday exactly as it is, unmatched expectations and all. Let me discover that the table is not empty after all, because You pulled up a chair and sat down beside me. Amen.