Each year at some point during the holiday season, my mom would hide twelve Christmas elves throughout our living room…pointy noses, rosy-red cheeks, secretive smiles on their faces. The challenge: to locate each of the twelve elves before my sister 🙂 This is just one of many fond memories I have of growing up in a family full of Christmas traditions.
Like myself trying to spy out the elves hidden in the nooks and crannies of our living room, God makes it His priority to seek out those that are LOST & LONELY, buried amidst the holiday decorations and festivities (His tradition is actually a daily, year-round exercise).
This holiday season, let’s determine to join with God in His tradition, inviting those that are APART (the lost, lonely, hurting, & isolated) to be A PART (it may be Christmas Dinner, a family celebration or tradition, a Holiday Party, use your imagination).
This holiday season, let’s seek out the LONELY PEOPLE and welcome them into our family traditions!
It seems every year around this time that God impresses upon me how so many people are hurting. Kids who know they are not getting anything (really) for Christmas. And kids who know (how sad) that they cannot get someone they love anything. I guess, perhaps, I could try to find the ones who are hiding, but most often I see their sullen faces walk into my classroom.
This is definitely not the happiest time of the year for many people. Just this week-end, the mother of one of my students had a stroke. She is only 42 years old, and not doing well at all.