Article December 21, 2009 Issue

BLESSINGS OF AN OVERSEAS NOEL

BY JENNIFER ROSEBRUGH

"NEWEST MEMBER OF THE TEAM? You'll be staffing the Embassy over Christmas. You can take a holiday next year!"

As a freshly minted foreign service officer on my first oversease posting, my heart sank when my boss said that. Somehow the excitement of the season didn't seem quite so great when I realized I'd be alone in a foreign country, trying to speak a language I'd yet to master. I hadn't even had time to make close friends. And while I'd known my commitment to the foreign service would require some sacrifices, this requirement to stay behind wasn't something I'd really anticipated. What about my small family—how would my parents and brother back in Canada feel when our usually very close foursome was reduced to three at this important time of the year?

I took recourse in the "friends" I did have—my Bible and Science and Health. If solace was to be had, I'd manage to find it through turning to God in prayer, just as I had during every challenge up until then. With concordances, a dictionary, and those two books on hand, I resolved to really make a concerted effort to learn, much more deeply than ever before, what Christmas was truly all about. Somewhere in the corner of my heart, I had a feeling that this spiritual discovery alone would respond to the longing and emptiness I feared would ruin an impending solo Christmas.

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