This morning, please,
it’s random thoughts of this lonely season for so many.
Enjoy, or not, but know this,
You are important!
If you are lonely, find someone to share your season with.
There’s plenty of empty spots around a table of joy.
In the Northern Hemisphere, and the further north you go, the days are shorter, and that means the nights are longer. It’s cooler, and some say it’s downright cold. Frigid. Hunker down. Huddled beneath warm covers. Wishing for someone to talk to, and some one to share life with…
One after another, the end of the year seasonal shift brings all those happy holidays of brightly lit scenes, joyful gatherings, good food, and even gifts, to the forefront of advertisers. Fall is entrenched, and just around the corner is the beginning of winter. Solstice. That’s when the earth tilts, and the days get longer, and the hope of warmth begins.
But first, you must make it through this lonely season.
On vacation in a lonely but an enjoyable place,
My bride and I sit before the fire, and enjoy a peaceful evening time.
This morning, sitting at the table looking across the cold waters
The mountains sit huddled in clouds
Briefly, I think, was that a flake of snow.
Yes. It’s a promise in the forecast.
Someone I know texted early this morning, her long time friend and pup has passed. Expected? Perhaps. But sorrow still fills the void, an empty space. That’s two pups this year. Like a child you enjoy your four-legged friends. They are often your solace, companion and the only one you share your life with.
Suddenly, I see her and so many more, facing life alone.
As we age, we will see this more for ourselves. Those close to us in age pass, and soon no one will have the knowledge and experience. Spouse’s and friends will be gone.
There will be no one who remembers what it was like
Walking down a hot dusty barefooted road,
Swinging a stick as a sword, cutting off the heads of weeds.
Quickly going in that country store. Soda. Candy Bar. Put it on the tab.
Our bicycles went everywhere, alongside that trusty Red Ryder
Slung over our shoulders. A pocket knife thrust in the back pocket.
That country store? Well, it also carried BB’s. That’s what we need!
Parents? I’m not sure where they are, but we’ll be home by dark.
Before you know it, you’re all alone. Siblings, parents and that one you spent the majority of your adult life with…loved ones all. Gone. You are now alone.
What do you do? How do you survive?
Will we be like Blanche in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire?“ Her last line. She never speaks again.
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
Is this where we wind up the season? Hoping that a strangers kindness will turn our lonely days into something more meaningful? That’s our hope.
James tells us in the New Testament an important thought, but it also comes from Job, who is perhaps the oldest known story of the Bible not found in the early chapter of Genesis.
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this:
to visit orphans and widows in their trouble,
and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
(James 1:27, NKJV)
“Because I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.”
(Job 29:12-13, NKJV)
When I was young, we would always have others in our house. There was a Boy’s Home between us and NASA, and every few weekends, several boys would come for the weekend. Orphaned? Probably not. Troubled? I really don’t know. We were not rich, but our lives were richer when they visited!
Here’s what I don’t want to see happen, but it does. We only reach out to others because it’s the Holidays. (Did you know holiday comes from Holy Day?) What’s wrong with the other days of the years? If we do it only during this season, then our heart is wrong. We are doing this to pacify our guilt at the plight of others.
No. A lonely season is not just a few days at the end of the year. It’s every day of the year. Jesus makes it clear… Give a cup of water in his name (Mark 9:41), and he will receive a reward, and it will be nothing lost in their world because they gave away something necessary to all.
But Jesus also teaches us that what we do as if we were doing it unto Him will bring great dividends in the thankful cup of life.
“Then the King will say to those on His right hand,
‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”
(Matthew 25:34-40, NKJV)
One Last Thought…
Peter and John are on the way to the Temple to pray at the 9th hour of the day. That’s 3 pm. A lame man was carried daily to the temple to beg for alms.
Give that thought a pause.
Peter and John went to pray and probably went this way nearly every day and at the same time. Scripture tells us the lame man was taken to the gate D-A-I-L-Y…
I teach that this event happened the day after Pentecost (Acts 2) when the Church was formed by the Spirit of a departed one. Jesus.
It’s up to Peter and John to hear, see, and respond to the need. Jesus is not with them.
Give that thought a pause.
How many times did Jesus pass this same way and not respond? Hmmm. I see a lesson at work here.
It’s our J-O-B, and not our ministry, to give as He taught in Matthew to someone he knows needs help. It’s our T-E-S-T… will we respond?
Peter and John did. “Silver and gold, have I none. But what I do have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise and Walk!” (Acts 3:6)
Imagine this man lame and lonely, depending on the kindness of strangers. Now imagine him healed and, for the first time, walking into the temple where he had not been allowed before.
How do we deal with loneliness and this season of great joy? Or any day, for that matter. Give, and it shall be given. Good measure. Shaken together. Overflowing… (Luke 6:38)
You can never out-give God! So give and be prepared to receive. Someday, sometime, that shoe will be on the other foot, and you’ll need the kindness of strangers.
