A Special Message to Singles… (or to those who are alone)

As you know, it’s just a few days before Christmas. I felt compelled to write a brief message to those who are single, as well as to those who may be alone at Christmas. For those who are single, sometimes Christmas can be a difficult time. Since I have been single all my life, I feel qualified to speak into this. I can tell you that there were many times in the past that I found Christmas to be a sad time because it seems to be more family-oriented, and when you don’t have a family, you tend to feel like maybe something is missing. I can’t remember exactly when it happened, but a few years ago, I made a shift in the mind-set that I normally had as the Christmas holidays approached. I decided that I was going to make the very best of it, and to enjoy special moments with my extended family as well as my close circle of friends. I also decided to try to think about those who have lost loved ones recently must feel, having to face the emptiness of missing someone who is normally around sharing the joy of the season. I also made the decision to think about how blessed I am having a place to live and food to eat, as opposed to those that I may see on the news that are eating at a homeless shelter. I also found out about some single friends of mine who would make it a point at Thanksgiving and Christmas to go serve food to those in the inner city who were eating in soup kitchens and rescue missions. I thought how cool that they would choose to give themselves to do that.

I’m not trying to diminish the fact that I know it can be difficult for people who are single, but sometimes I think we have to make a choice to remember how really blessed we are. I know that when I spent a couple of weeks in Rwanda and met many of the survivors of the genocide whose arms and legs had been taken with machetes and yet they were still managing to function, I became very convicted at the moments I spend in any form of self-pity or temptation to think that my life is empty. I found these Rwandans so grateful to God that they are still alive, even though their entire family- mom, dad, and siblings – were killed right before their very eyes, yet somehow their life was spared. I think as a single person, we have to choose to remember that God is always with us and there are always others that we can reach out to. After all, isn’t that where real joy comes from?

As you are reading this, I hope that you will make a choice to look forward to the next few days with great anticipation of what God may have you do and who He may have you reach out to. It will make all the difference. I challenge you to get your mind off of yourself and on to others that you can lift up and encourage. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Nancy