To Feel Alone [ADVENTure Eighteen]

The holiday season is a time when many feel alone. They may be surrounded with friends and family, but still feel deeply alone. Some are celebrating their first Christmas following the death of a loved one. Others may be experiencing the isolating feelings associated with living with chronic illness during the holiday hustle and bustle. Or perhaps this is their first deployment during the holidays, their first holiday as a refugee in a new country, or yet another Christmas at work...or without a home. The sorrow of alone-ness seems fathoms deeper during the holiday season. 

Loving and Comforting God,
Please be with those who feel alone. Help them to feel the warmth of your love wrapped around them and the caring of others - both friends and strangers - who enter their lives. Compel them to reach out to others as you encourage us to reach out to them. 
Please inspire us to open our hearts and our minds, ready our hands, and make kind and welcoming our words to all we encounter. Help us to listen more than we speak - and to be fully in the moment with each other. 
Let your light shine through us, so that we may bring the alone and lonely your comfort and peace.