Each Sunday of Advent, we light a candle. The candles are for Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. These words may have different meanings to different people. Some may take their meaning in the more religious sense. For example Kathy Holst has been writing our Advent readings and she shows Hope may be thought of as Good winning out over Evil. Peace may be thought of as God being in control no matter what. Joy may be thought of as our deliverance from sin and death and Love as the love of God for us that can never be taken away.
This week I have also been thinking of what makes us Happy. If you ask Google what makes us happy, one of the replies is 1. Someone to love 2. Something to do and 3. Something to look forward to.
Most of us think of Love in the romantic sense. Probably in second place for many, would be the Love of God. Then there is also the love of things, money, power and those not so idealistic wants. Something to do is much more important than many of us realize. Some are actually defined by “what they do”. Today it seems that many of those without definition turn to drugs or alcohol to try to find meaning in life or to try to escape life all together. Then there is Something to look forward to which could also be Hope in my opinion.
If you have all three, you are truly blessed. If not, get off your duff and get to work.
It may not be possible, for some reason, to find romantic love, that special someone that you can’t imagine being separated from. However you can find someone to love in your family, in your community or even perhaps on the internet. If that fails, go to a shelter and adopt a pet. May sound silly but pets can also be family. Something to do. Well get a job! If that is not in the cards, do something for someone else. Helping others can be amazingly rewarding. Volunteer at a food bank, at an animal shelter, at church, at a nursing home, the possibilities are endless and helping others will do more for you than for them. Something to look forward to. This is not a new car, a big vacation, a promotion or any of those things which you think will make you happy. This is as simple as watching a sunset, looking forward to watching a Hallmark movie, to going out to eat, to spending time with friends and family and so much more. Perhaps you love sports, fishing, movies, exercise, eating-the possibilities are endless.
Life can be challenging. We all face loss. We all have problems whether large or small. But we also have Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. We need someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to. May you find all of these in this Christmas Season.