Are You Alone?

As Thanksgiving leftovers from my family are still being made into lunches even though it’s the second week of December, and the Christmas preparations to spend time with loved ones are being arranged, there is clearly an aura of gladness and good tidings in the air.

Although my mind is immersed in the belief that “Tis the season to be jolly,” probably due to the fact that Deck the Halls gets played on the radio seventeen times an hour, I often take the time to consider those that are feeling alone. Those individuals that are without the warmth of a family to spend the holidays with, or those whose loved one is no longer present to spend that tradition with them after so many wonderful years.

While I ponder this thought I often hear people say, “Jesus is always with you” and I must admit that this statement often felt as though is was a generic prescription to a specific ailment. How does that statement solve the fact that during the season where some people are roasting chestnuts on an open fire with family and friends while other people are going to an empty apartment to watch an episode of Lost. If “Jesus is always with you” then how can someone be feeling such a void in their life?

Perhaps individuals that are experiencing this loneliness just need to know what the saying actually means. Quite simply, when people throw this cliché out in their wealth of conventional and well timed wisdom, what they are saying is, “to have hope.” Hope is, in essence the very foundation of what the Christmas season is about. When God decided to send His son into the world it was a symbol of hope: hope for victory, redemption, and salvation for all people. Hope that individuals can make it out of any situation that has them feeling alone. Hope in knowing that circumstances that are unfavorable are temporary and with Christ the loneliness will be overcome.

 Hope is not some quick-fix remedy that fights the fruits of feeling alone, but it is the battle- tested and proven solution that attacks the roots of loneliness. So, for those that are feeling alone this holiday season if you have hope in your heart and someone tells you that “Jesus is always with you” thank them because now you know He actually is.