Belonging… and… Believing

There come to mind at this moment two great gifts. One is Belonging. Imagine the loneliness of not belonging—to someone, to something; not to have an obligation to others, or an interest in them—of they in us. Belonging to a family, to friends, belonging to the Father of us all and to His family is among the greatest of gifts. “…And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,…” This is a time for all of us to turn our hearts to others. Let there be no one without the strength and encouragement that come from belonging; and no one left in loneliness. Let this be a time for unselfish sharing of ourselves.

Besides Belonging, there is the great gift of believing. “Blessed are they who never become wholly sophisticated,” one thoughtfully wrote on the Christmas theme, “blessed are those who still dream and wonder and believe!…[who keep] the power of feeling things freshly; of finding joy in common as well as uncommon things…” Once “the faculty of enjoying simple things is lost, the capacity for fresh feeling…”—for faith, for hope—once this gives way to sophistication, “skepticism, cynicism, disillusion,” the luster of life are lost. “Heaven deliver men from the bareness of life when both faith and …[belief] are dead!” And so, let the spirit of Christmas “be kindled afresh…in a way…which no skepticism and world-weariness can dim,” – for the wholeness of the world an the wholeness of men’s hearts will be found in belonging and believing, as we keep Christmas.

May we draw our loved ones nearer to us, with the healing of hurts, with the warming of hearts, and find the peace that comes with repentance and come closer in kindliness, and break the barriers that keep men removed from other men.

Thank God for her great gifts of belonging and believing.