As we enter into the holiday season with snow beginning to fall and temperatures dropping even in the South, we prepare for our Thanksgiving feast and then Christmas festivities shortly thereafter.  When we’re supposed to be filled with holiday cheer, the truth is that a lot of people are dreading the holidays.  Either they are fighting depression, are in the mist of a crisis, or they do not have any family to gather with during the holiday season.  There are a whole list of reasons why people are not in the holiday spirit and actually end up dreading this time of year!

Will you take time to remember them?  The ones that feel like they have lost hope?  The ones with no cheer left within their hearts and souls right now?  The ones that are struggling to put their feet on the floor in the mornings and pull themselves out of bed to greet the day?

Some hide it so well that you’d never truly know that they dislike the holiday season.  They will force a smile, hum a Christmas song, all the while they feel like they are dying inside.

Maybe they are like so many that have lost loved ones this year.  Maybe they will have one vacant seat at the dinner table this year, or maybe, like in our case, there will be several vacant seats when our family gathers around after having lost my sister, granddaddy, and grandma in years past.  Along with the empty chairs are hearts that feel as if they have holes in them as they miss their loved ones so much that memories of holidays past leave trails of tears streaming down their cheeks.

The truth is that not everyone feels like celebrating.  Some would even like to hibernate, if that were even an option, until after the first of the year.

Will you take time to remember those individuals in prayer?  Will you silently speak to God on their behalf asking Him to wrap His loving arms around them?

God, provide them comfort as only You can, Father.  They need you …

This post was inspired by the prompt word of Truth for this edition of Tuesday at Ten.