Words of Hope
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve, the holiday season is a time when many gather with family and friends, hold office parties, shop ‘til they drop, and eat until they feel like a stuffed whale. The media promotes this. Everybody walks around pretending to be in a joyful spirit.
But some people feel alone – even when they are in a crowd of people. Those office parties can be a place of isolation for the one who sits in the corner, wishing she were somewhere else.
The large family gatherings sitting in front of the eighty inch television, watching football games and betting on who will win – is just a noisy gong to the one who doesn’t care about football, and who really just wants to go home to his three room apartment, where at least he is comfortable. But going home would be admitting defeat, so he stays.
The free-flowing alcohol can be a temptation for the one trying to recover.
Even the quiet church setting can be a strain for the one whose spouse left her for another woman, and now she is wondering how she is going to provide the kind of Christmas her kids have been expecting – hoping for – needed. And she feels like a failure.
Two thousand years ago, a man whose wife was pregnant with a baby that wasn’t his, and the wife, who was the one ostracized for carrying that baby, made a long trip just to pay their taxes. When they arrived, she was already in labor, and there was no room at any hostel, hotel, or simple B&B. So she had the baby in a barn, wrapped him in rags, and laid him in a trough filled with hay. The baby’s name was Jesus.
Nobody knew the impact of that night. That is, until a star led some wise men to the baby. And angels sang to shepherds. They were the lonely ones, but the first to receive the message of hope.
“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)
You might be the one sitting in a quiet church, in a lonely corner on the back row, at the office party, or the family gathering. But Jesus sees you.
If you are the lonely one this Christmas, feel free to drop me a line. In the meantime, here are some resources that may help.
