I am an early morning walker. In the hush of the new day beginning, I find a sense of peace and often inspiration. The other morning as I was walking, I found myself strolling into a blanket of fog. I realized that when in the fog, I couldn’t see the fog…I could see it behind me…I could see it well ahead of me…but I couldn’t see it when in the midst.
I began to think of the many who experience the holiday blues. The stress and the anxiety of the holiday season can produce in some a fog of loneliness and depression. And yet just as the wisdom of my morning walk revealed, one may recognize these blues from afar or even in retrospect, but often not when in the midst.
John Lewis, on online retailer in the UK, recently released their 2015 Christmas Commercial and the video has gone viral. I think because many can relate. It’s about a girl named Lily who after looking through a telescope discovers the man in the moon. She is determined to let him know that someone is thinking of him. John Lewis has produced this commercial to bring awareness to the over a million senior citizens who will go the next holiday month without talking to a single person.
As I continued my walk I came to an area where a ray of sun was cutting through the fog right in front of my path. I discovered that the contrast of the light revealed the fog in the midst, right where I stood. I’d like to challenge all our Lifeline readers to seek out the “men in the moon” in your daily telescopes. And like Lily, be that light that breaks through another’s fog of loneliness and holiday blues with the simple gift of letting this person know someone is thinking of them.
