Perspective

I don't know what's worst...having a horrible life threatening disease or living a miserable existence wasting your life feeling purposeless each day...
yesterday, a good friend of ours found out his mother has stage two cancer. I can empathize with my friend b/c my dad was recently diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully they caught it early enough to where it hadn't spread to the lymphnodes so they were able to remove it completely. However, 13 years ago my husbands sister (age 22) didn't have the same result, ending in years of grief for the family that to this day still affects them deeply.
It's a struggle to feel like you're life is meaningless while you're watching someone else fight for theirs. A change of perspective quickly comes into play. A great number of people are hurting so deeply, especially this time of year. The holidays are supposed to be a joyful time of the year with much celebrating. However, this season is often a horrible reminder to many of the great loss in their lives. I think of my neighbor who lost her mother a few years ago, a college friend who was killed this year leaving 5 kids behind, the hole in our family b/c my husbands sister & grandma are no longer with us, and my good friends who've walked the road of divorce and now have to spend the holidays apart splitting time with kids. Not to mention Abby from this year's Biggest Looser who lost her husband and two children in an accident.
It's a sobering reminder that as we go about our lives and "rush" through the holidays not to overlook those who are experiencing deep hurt, pain, hopelessness, brokenness and sorrow over these next couple of weeks. Whatever the reason, whether in confusion, depression, unemployment, angst, broken relationships or financial hardship, may our present circumstances develop in us the compassion to reach out to those who are walking through this winter with an emptiness that only the son of God can fill. May the celebration of His birth remind us that it is for this reason that He came...