If this day has found you home alone...
Yes – that was a movie title. But, there is someone at home alone today that I am begging to talk to. Christmas is known as a family day. However, there are people like you feeling lonely today. You feel abandoned, left out, useless, alone and frightened.
You could be feeling like that for different reasons; sometimes, there are people surrounded by many individuals but still feeling alone.
For example, my heart goes out to sick people – some in hospitals, others at home. You could be feeling like you are missing out on the fun, laughter and merry making that comes with today. I feel you. There is another person spending their first Christmas in jail. You are imagining what life would have been like with your loved ones who you left out there. Possibly, she or he might have been a new bride before you got the sentence.
There is the soldier on duty, say, at stations like in Somalia or in the jungles of Central African Republic on a mission of hunting the ever elusive Joseph Kony. Possibly, your spouse cannot even reach you by phone to say Merry Christmas. I say, Merry Christmas to you.
What about you who is nursing a broken heart; just out of a divorce settlement and left bitter after the separation. There is another who lost their loved one, and now widowed. I feel what you are going through. However, don’t you despair that this Christmas is coming at a time like this. The joy of Christmas comes to those people who are not receivers, but, givers.
The world could have robbed you of good health, a loved one, freedom, et al, but, it cannot rob you of a generous and grateful heart. This is what you ought to make your life about.
By giving your life a new purpose – you could be on your way to making a new meaning of the relationship you have with the world, and with yourself.
Therefore, instead of burying yourself in self-pity, watch television or play video games like many self-indulged lonely people would do, get up. Think about someone else whose Christmas you could brighten. Look around you, pick something and give it to someone who is less fortunate than you.
I imagine the biblical wise men from the east who made their history by looking for new meaning from their distraught life. They went ahead to offer gifts of substance to baby Jesus, who had been surrounded by animals. They believed in something beyond the prevailing circumstances.
Oh ye lonely soul, stand up to be wiser, look for someone who needs your hug, smile, bread, a kilogramme of sugar, meat, toy, candy or anything you can afford.
Stop looking at yourself, or your situation, brother, sister - feeling you could have been loved more. Instead, give your life a new meaning by being a giver of the values of Christmas, and not the receiver. I can assure you one thing; in giving you will receive. A new you will be a bigger gift to your family, neighbours, or community because Christmas is about that.
I read something interesting on Sudhir Ruparelia Foundation’s Facebook wall. He said: “The act of helping others can create an improved sense of well-being. Knowing that you sacrificed something such as time, finances or property in order to help others in need can give you a sense of purpose in life or work and inner satisfaction.”
May Baby Jesus bless your gifted hands. Merry Christmas.
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