Article November 21, 2016 Issue

A gift from the holidays

Marilyn Wickstrom

Moving 2,000 miles away from my parents didn’t seem like too much of a problem for me, my husband, or our three-year-old son until the holidays came around. We had always spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at home with my family. Now we were alone. Pulling at my heart was an empty loneliness. I longed to have someone ask us to share Thanksgiving dinner with them. I waited until it became obvious that the invitation I was hoping for was not to come about.

I turned to God, knowing I would have an answer. My prayers have always been rewarded when I’ve put aside human outlining and recognized God was in control and I could trust His will. The Golden Rule came to mind: “Do for others what you would like them to do for you” (Matthew 7:12, New Living Translation).

It suddenly made perfect sense why these particular words of Christ Jesus had popped into thought. As I applied the Golden Rule to this situation, I began to go on a treasure hunt, looking for those who were alone with nowhere to go for the Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays.

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