I'll Be Home for Christmas

    

     One of the subjects at church recently has been about how Jesus coming to earth is the physical manifestation of God's infinite love. It made me think about how we can tell people that we love them, but there is something very tactile about humans, we need to feel love as well as know it.  Tell someone about God's love and they might know it, but hug them, love them and they might feel it deep in their hearts. The beautiful children of Sierra Leone wanted was to hold our hands, to feel our love and acceptance.  Our Room at the Inn visitors need a warm place to stay and a good meal.  Our Salkehatchie homeowners need to feel safe and warm in their homes, and everyone who is hurting needs a hug.

     Sometimes we try to show love but are rejected.  Last week there was a report about a young policeman in New York who was seen giving a homeless man a pair of boots.  He had seen the man's need, gone to a store and, using his own funds, bought boots and socks for the poor man.  Returning to the man, he knelt down and didn't just give them to the man, but put the socks and boots on the man, showing great love and tenderness.  

     Less than a week later the homeless man was seen, without shoes again.  He said that he was going to sell the boots he had been given.  Many people saw that as a rejection of the love offered to him.   Maybe he wasn't ready to be loved, but that doesn't mean that the policeman's love was wasted. 

     We don't get to choose how our love is received, we can only choose the way in which we offer it.  God sent his love to the whole world, but not everyone is ready to accept it.  Just like the policeman's gift, God's gift was not wasted, sometimes it is just delayed.

    Those of you who know me, know that I don't like delays.  I am not good at waiting for what I need or want.  When we took on the Betty project I knew that my biggest problem would be the long project time.  I'm ready to put the shovel in the ground.  As Christmas approaches I feel like we are just not moving fast enough for BBAH.  So, to satisfy myself I have "decorated" Betty's house for Christmas.  It's a little cheesy, but it makes me happy to see what it might look like next year at this time.

     With Christmas just around the corner, I have found myself singing "I'll be Home for Christmas" over and over in my head.  It makes me think about Betty and Odessa and their homes, both the one that was and the one that will be.  Last year Betty had her home during Christmas.  She probably had decorations up and the smells of the holidays in the kitchen.  We haven't talked about what Christmas was like in her home, but whatever makes Christmas special is that feeling of "home" wherever home may be. 

     I pray that next year Betty and Odessa will be at home again, decorations around them, smells of baking and fir trees surrounding them, welcoming them home for Christmas.  I also pray that they feel can accept the home as what I see it as, God reaching down, through the arms of her brothers and sisters in Christ and offering her a hug.  A year ago Betty and Odessa were probably not aware of how much they were loved.  I hope that they are patiently waiting for the warm and loving hug that their new home will remind them of for many years to come.