Holiday Blindness

So the holidays are here, that time of year that people look forward to because it's the time of year when families old and young, far and close draw near to one another. Maybe not physically but they feel that closeness and that bond. Families gather in hopes of reminiscing on past memories and humorous stories, and there's always a somber loving warmth to that holiday together. Most generally we see people caring for strangers and being there for loved ones when any other time of the year they'd be forgotten. This year is no different in some instances.

However this year in some instances have changed....

I don't know how to write about this, I don't even know where to begin in all honesty. There's something to be said to be in your 20's feeling the world at your fingertips, feeling like you can go anywhere and do anything and there is nothing that can stop you, your young and your invincible. Then it happens... Life happens.... your flying high in the clouds and then a brick get's tied to your foot and pulls you down low in the valley. The brick you ask? Cancer. Not my cancer, not my husband having cancer, but a very close and important relative, I choose not to share the name or the relation because it's not relevant to what I am trying to express and it's not my story to share. I am the person on the outside looking in the window to this brick, I am the person who while flying high looks at the ground and sees the reality of what's going on all around. There is an amazingly scary thing that happens when a loved one has cancer, while hearing the news and processing it and living so close to it knocks the breath out of you single handedly it also draws a force stronger than a tornado, stronger than a hurricane and it's family.

The past few years in my life Christmas has had many scary moments, last year my grandfather in a nursing home one of my biggest nightmares come true, the year before my amazing sweet little cousin having multiple surgeries and the year before that even more. I can't begin to fathom the great devestation that my family has seen... That I have seen. Yet somehow each Christmas wasn't tainted, each Christmas came out with some loving memories, each Christmas I experienced a free gift but a gift that means the world and that's unconditional love. I know there are many people who don't have family that are close, or who have separated themselves from family in fear, or shame or hurt. I encourage you to look beyond it, see if there's a way of working through it with compassion and love and kindness, and most importantly grace. By now I am sure you have thought of someone close or distant that you care about, by now I am sure you have thought of a hurt relationship that you have dealt with and by now I am sure before I even finish typing this sentence that you have a perfect image of that person. My recommendation to you? Reach out. Pray without ceasing for the natural opportunity for wounds to be healed and relationships to be mended.

My last hope and prayer this holiday season is that you open your eyes to the disasters of this world, you open your eyes to the lost and the hungry and the hurting, to the lonely and to the ones who are full of everything but love. I pray that after New Year's day you don't forget about the homeless who still need jackets and food, and you don't forget about the animals who have no warmth or shelter, and you don't forget about the children living in poverty hoping for a bed of their own or a new pair of socks. I pray that you carry those hurts and burdens and until the day you take your last breath you do all that you can to help others. Christmas while a beautiful and fun season is not about gifts, or food, or parties, it's about a sweet innocent love for the world that caused the amazing miraculous birth of Christ to help heal the broken and lost without judgement. I could go into a Bible lesson about judging others but I won't. Grace is for everyone so extend it this year and beyond that.

This year has been a trying year for many of us and unfortunately next year will probably be trying as well however if we hold fast to the grace and love and support that God has blessed us with whether it be through family, friends, a church congregation then maybe just maybe we can see a little bit more hope next year.

God Bless,
Ashley