Working Christmas Day today was not fun considering the few hours of sleep I had over Christmas Eve. But it was, indeed, Christmas day and what a joyful day it is knowing that our salvation did come two thousand years ago in the form of a baby!
A lot of “Merry Christmas” greetings was in order and a lot of it went around. People are in that jovial Christmas spirit, but not everyone.
There was this lady at work who misses her mother today since she passed a year or so ago. The same lady has a father who is very sick in another state and was transferred this same day to the ICU. “Merry Christmas” sounds so hollow when you see the pain and the anxiety in her eyes. She needed a hug and a word of encouragement more than a “Merry Christmas”.
And then, I came across an elderly lady, a patient of mine. She lives alone. Her husband had died and she related that her son had also died and her grandkids are in another state and “ do not care,” it seems. She expressed to me that losing a son—her son-- was the most heartbreaking thing that could ever happen to anyone. She said that when she lost her son last year, she had no more reason to live. All this time she had managed to live on her own, and she has a sister who is also ailing and helpless like her. She needed a hand reached out and a listening ear more than a “Happy Holiday.”
There is the other side of Christmas, the one that we may easily miss. It is the Christmas of the lonely, the sick and the needy. It is the Christmas of those that find themselves or their loved ones estranged, dying, critically ill, or gone. It is the Christmas of the poor, the homeless and the helpless; the Christmas of those that have friends and family gone from their side this year.
As we enjoy this season and the joy and gifts that we have, let us remember that for this reason Jesus came into the world—to bind up the broken hearted, to heal the wounded, to bring freedom to the captives and hope to our messed-up world.
Have a blessed Christmas everyone!
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