Do you remember doing Christmas crafts at school? My favourite was drawing a shape with glue then pouring glitter over and shaking the surplus off to reveal a perfect Christmas shape. All at once, mistakes and mess fell away and the best stuck.

This year everything has been stripped away. We’ve lost precious people, livelihoods and a lot of the freedoms we took for granted before. The after-picture is ragged, broken, unsightly. Far from perfect.

But, for me, something beautiful has stuck. This time last year I wrote Immanuel. I reread it this morning and realised that everything I said then still stands. What I believed then has stuck through all the pain and mess of this year.

When you shake your life what sticks? I really hope you find the things, the people that matter, still holding onto you.

You know, there is only One who defies hardship and loneliness. And He doesn’t stand at a safe distance from you. He is always right there. At your side.

I hope that this Christmas you can feel that. That’s what it’s really about, when you shake off the surplus.