Christmas Day

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I hope you are all too occupied to even read this today. Christmas is talked about as a “time for family”,a “time to be thankful”, a “time to relax” etc.

However the reality is that for many people Christmas is incredibly stressful and lonely.
So lets put aside the fact that Christmas is actually about the birth of the saviour of the world and think about the giving, friends and family.

Firstly if you are alone or stressed this Christmas then my heart goes out to you. I trust that you will be able to step back over the next few days and find a place where you can make some decisions to change that. The best way to solve loneliness is to befriend someone else. IS there someone else you know who may be alone this Christmas? Well why not ring them and share this year with them. They may be sitting at home hoping and praying that their doorbell would ring or their phone go.

And for those of us who have family around, who can’t wait for Christmas to be over so we can relax and get away from everybody, can I leave you with this challenge.

There will be people within walking distance of where you are right now who are terribly lonely. There are women all over New Zealand being beaten this Christmas. Domestic violence is at its annual peak over the next ten days. There will be young children being emotionally, physically and sexually abused right in your campground or street. Suicide peaks as well over Christmas.

So what are you willing to do about that this year?? Most of these issues come out of stress, alcohol abuse and an absence of decent role models. IF you take the time to visit the old lady you see struggling out to their letterbox with no cars in the driveway you may be able to give someone a gift of much more value than anything you can buy.

Striking up a conversation with that tattooed smelly guy with 8 kids at the campground may open a door for you to speak life and hope into a family that simply doesn’t know how to be “normal”.

You may not be able to accept what Christmas is really about, the birth of Jesus Christ, however you can choose to make it something of real importance this year. So do me and yourself a family, find one person or family in the next week who are lonely, afraid, dysfunctional, depressed, broke, addicted, just one, and take yourself and your family into their world and bring the life, skills and love you have in your heart to that person or family. You will never be the same and I guarantee this will be more memorable than any gift you have received or place you have visited. This is offering the gift of life to someone who needs it. You could literally save a physical life, prevent a child losing her virginity or enable a family to see someone model real love, and permanently change their future.

Now that’s what I call a Merry Christmas!!

Stay Safe ~ Dean and Raewyn Letfus and Family!!