Article December 18, 2017 Issue

Lessons of holiday sweetness

Victoria Butler

One Christmas Eve, several years ago, I was feeling sorry for myself.

I’d just been through a relationship breakup and was feeling very lonely and unloved. At the time I owned a beauty salon. Many of our patrons arrived with holiday gifts of flowers and chocolates. Being particularly fond of chocolate, I’d always feel hopeful there might be a gift for me, but each time, the patrons would give gifts to their specific stylist and never to the salon in general. Although I found it sort of funny, this actually intensified my feelings of being undervalued and excluded.

I turned to prayer, which led me to focus on love—the love I had for God, Christ Jesus, Christmas, and, as Jesus emphasized in his ministry, my “neighbor.” I realized I couldn’t truly be left out of all the love expressed around me. Christian Science is about the pure love of God loving each of us, and how we reflect this love. I had come to believe I could be a blessing to others, and this self-centered what-about-me thinking didn’t fit with that truth.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Turning Points in Spiritual Growth

Cover to cover