"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love..."
It's early December, and the North Georgia wind is growing colder. Snow fell in the mountains last week, fires are being stoked, and families are finally coming together again for the holidays.
Me - I went home for Thanksgiving. I will go home again for Christmas. I will see my mother and father and my two little brothers whom I love dearly. I will spend the holidays with aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins; and this year, as every year, I will likely forget how lucky I am.
Statisticians say that Christmas is one of the happiest and lousiest times of the year. While many of us are surrounded by family and friends, others cry out. Suicide and depression increase. Everyday loneliness is intensified against a backdrop of other people's warmth. On the anniversary of a Savior's birth, so many languish in suffering and solitude.
I know. Three weeks ago I spent the night at a shelter in Atlanta with a group of homeless men who, by recommendation, are housed in a church for the duration of the winter. They come in around 7 p.m. and leave around 5:30 a.m.
Like clockwork they have shelter, food and community - maybe not family, but community - even as hundreds of others like them (and like me) freeze nightly on the streets.
It is hard to take. Talk to them, and most remember better days - mothers, brothers, wives, warmth and joy. But often those days can seem far away.
Don't we all feel this way sometimes? Homeless, cold, lost and afraid, we search and rarely find.
Even the wealthiest, the prettiest, the happiest among us desperately need something good, something dear, a care without consequence.
This is Christmas - faith that can move mountains, hope that never fades, love without end.
It is a time to remember and a time to forget. It is the time when our otherworldliness and homelessness draw nearest, bringing with them the greatest sorrow and the greatest joy - amplifying what it means to be human for a few short weeks, and testing our resolve as we struggle in a world that is decidedly not our home.
Hug someone a little tighter this Christmas. Linger after your family dinner, write someone an unexpected card and pray an extra moment or two on Christmas Eve.
It is important to remember as finals approach, and, for some, the real world draws only a few months away, that there are things more important than this school, than your problems, than the next test or even the next day.
First Corinthians tells us to remember three things. This December, will you remember?
*This article first appeared in the Berry College Campus Carrier in 2002
Merry Christmas, John. You don't even know me, but I think you are wonderful.
Posted by: Beth | December 24, 2006 at 02:43 PM
A belated Merry Christmas, John. I am new to the site, but believe I'll be back again. This blog is a diamond in the rough. You really should write more frequently.
Posted by: Andre | January 02, 2007 at 10:17 PM