You Are Important

I was reminded again yesterday of the many people among us who are receiving this blessed season with some degree of sorrow. The unemployed, the lonely, the elderly, the depressed, the bi-polar, and the dying, are all in our midst every day. That person in the office next to you, that person in the coffee shop sitting alone, that person in the nursing home whom no one visits, that suffering person in the hospital, all these people may be seeing the Christmas lights all around them, but only feeling darkness.

If I could speak to these people, I would tell them they are not alone. If I could walk with them, I would tell them: “Come, now is not a time for sitting here in sorrow.” I’d remind them that at Christmas “There came a great light.” And I’d tell them that “You are that great light for many other people, and they need you. You think you are poor, lonely, old and useless, always sad, or ill, but look: You can walk! Come, let us go to visit those in darkness who can’t walk. You can speak; come, let us go to talk to those who may only hear. You can hold out your hand; come, let us go to touch the hands that lay alone on the bedside. You think you are lonely and things look dark? It’s only because you haven’t yet met the friends waiting for you; you are their light. They need you. You are not alone today, to help do His work, God needs you.”

The people feeling darkness this Advent season are many. They may be people you see; they may be members of your family; they may live in your house. Open your eyes to see them, then open your heart to speak to them. Call them to visit the hospitals, the nursing homes, and the treatment centers. Sit next to the alone person and talk to him, and listen. If he’s unemployed, ask if he’d be interested in visiting some lonely or ill people WITH YOU, and then plan on an hour or two with him – to introduce him to his new friends.

There are so many things we can do this Advent season to help our neighbors, to be Christ to them. It’s not with a checkbook, it’s with our time. If you see yourself as very blessed this Christmas, ACT like you are, and share the blessings you feel. And especially if you see yourself as needing a blessing this Christmas, start by being a blessing to others. Even in your sadness, in your personal darkness, you can bring light.

You can be an instrument of His peace this Advent. You are not alone, and you are so very important. That is why a God came to this earth, for you, because you are so important. Did you forget?

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December 8: The Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It started today, the first of many critical junctures for mankind. Paul said sin and death had entered the world for all men, because of one man. This woman Mary, however, entered the world without sin, a critical change for mankind. A manger wasn’t being prepared for the birth of a God today, no a womb was, one perfect and sinless. The long-awaited promise of a savior was being fulfilled; it was starting. It started this day. In a way, today is truly the start of our re-birth day. It is a great thing to celebrate.

(Oh, the above picture is my tree, put up last week. Not a Church holiday, but many of my friends would say my getting it up that early is truly a miraculous event.)