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After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (1 Peter 5:10 NASB95).
The holidays are difficult for those who have recently lost someone that they love.
My mother was killed in an automobile accident in the Spring many years ago. I remember our family coming together and the kindness of friends. As Christmas approached, our grief focused on our Christmas day dinner.
My mother, the heart of our Christmas celebration, had created a unique menu for the family Christmas dinner.
Shrimp, Steak, and Cinnamon rolls.
We didn’t eat turkey, as Mom would say, “That’s for Thanksgiving.” We didn’t eat ham, as Mom would say, “Jesus was from a Jewish background and ham on His birthday – that’s ridiculous.”
We had Shrimp, Steak, and Cinnamon rolls. As I went to Bible College and became more sophisticated theologically, I didn’t have the nerve to tell Mom that shrimp were as bad as ham for the Jewish diet!
Shrimp, Steak, and Cinnamon rolls.
The first Christmas after Mom died, we considered not having our Christmas Day dinner. What would the day be like without Mom? We decided that Mom would be upset in heaven if we didn’t have our dinner. But we realized a problem – steak, easy, and shrimp, no problem, but no one knew the recipe or the technique for baking Mom’s Cinnamon rolls.
Cinnamon rolls were Mom’s protected secret. The recipes of KFC© chicken, Coke©, Skyline Chili©, and Mom’s Cinnamon rolls – state secrets! Easier to solve the date of Jesus’s return.
Shrimp, Steak, and…?
That’s what our dinner would be. No Cinnamon rolls! We would just accept it and remember Mom and her rolls. Someone suggested baking something else, but that idea didn’t gain traction.
Shrimp and Steak – that was the plan.
On the day of Christmas Eve, my aunt knocked on my door. My wife answered the door to my aunt saying, “I know Thelma used to bake Cinnamon rolls for Christmas dinner. Both Grant’s mom and I were taught to bake these rolls by Grant’s grandmother. I thought that you might want some tomorrow.”
Shrimp, Steak, and Cinnamon rolls!
This is my favorite Christmas memory. The Apostle Peter writes that the Lord Himself will comfort those who suffer. On that Christmas Eve Day many years ago, He sent my aunt with Cinnamon rolls.
No greater comfort to our grief that year.