Article December 18, 2000 Issue

Home alone for the holidays?

Why not have a great time?

Robert A. Johnson

It was their first year in a new town. They'd noticed a woman at church who had no family to celebrate the season with. So they did what a lot of us would do—they invited her to a holiday dinner.

Margaret, the woman they had seen in church, was delighted to accept, but she wanted them to know that she felt no sadness at holiday times. Yes, her husband had passed on several years earlier. Her mother had passed on about five months after her husband, and the pet dog she and her husband had loved so much passed on less than two months later.

Through all this, Margaret felt strengthened by her understanding that there was an unbreakable continuity to their relationship. Death certainly did not have the final word about the spiritual basis of their lives. She knew that God was still taking care of her and them even though they were no longer together.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

your decisions

Can I handle all these changes?