If We Make It Through December

This is truly one of the best songs ever written and recorded.  Merle Haggard is a true genius.  I had the blessing of seeing him in concert at the soon to be demolished Civic Area many years ago.  The Mellon Area page listing is wrong, as it doesn't list Tammy and Randy and Merle playing together there, but I know I saw the three of them there, maybe not together.  But I never saw Conway Twitty and I never saw Matraca Berg.  Maybe it was one of those deals were someone backed out and filled in at the last minute I guess and the official record still says Shenandoah or Twitty or whatever.  I would have loved to have seen Conway.  Or Shenandoah for that matter, as I love many of their songs, especially Ghost in this House.  But anyway....back to If We Make It Through December.  I have felt this way during hard times, when it seemed like everyone in the world was so happy and cheery and loving every minute of December.  I left full-time ministry in October of 2001 and that first Christmas was rough, let me tell you!  Rough, rough!  So this song was a comfort to me, even though the meaning is not related to what I was going through at the time.  Not that any song is!  But all I wanted to do was get through December.
Now I am not feeling that way, I made it through that December and many Decembers since.  I have had wonderful Decembers and not so wonderful ones, but I am thankful for each day.
As we enter into another December I know that there are many people out there who are hoping to just "make it through" because they might feel, as Merle does "if we make it through December, we'll be fine".  And so I lift them up in prayer.  And I pray that if people who feel this way are in my midst (and I am sure they are, I just must be aware and notice) that I might be a light and a comfort to them.  To help them through December and into a beautiful new year.