Our world, our lives, our stories are complicated and often contradictory! We can feel both angry and joy at the same time. Sad and relieved. Laugh and cry. Mary and Joseph lose the boy Jesus, and when they find him, I imagine they feel more than one emotion, and have more than one thought in their heads. Sometimes the Christmas season pressures us to feel only one way: cheery cheery cheery. But life isn’t one-dimensional. Even as we are cheery, we are aware of the pain in this world. Even if we are hurting, we can find moments of joy and celebration. The Christian life isn’t a call to feel one way, but a promise that God enters our complicated and contradictory world, and is in it with us, and we can be free to feel all the feelings.