We have reached yet another holiday season. The year 2015 is almost at its end and we are about to begin a New Year. I think about what has happened and what is to come.
Reflections on Christmas
I like to reflect on Christmas as a spiritual intervention. It is the story of God’s journey to reach out to us. He demonstrated his great love towards us enough to give us the great gift of life in His Son. And because of this, we have an opportunity to journey back towards God. It is overwhelming to recognize we are given the privilege to embrace and accept His gift of life and salvation to us all. In so doing, we have a rich inheritance of truth and grace that we can share with those around us.
The Christmas Season is a great reason to celebrate the many blessings of life in family, friends and how we are able to have a positive impact to the world. At Lakeside, we gathered for our annual Christmas luncheon, celebrated some great stories of our assistance to thousands of students, and reflected on how the Christmas Season is so meaningful to us. What a special time to share! Our staff are incredibly busy reaching out to our students with help, hope and new ways to overcome life’s significant obstacles.
The busyness of Christmas
It is so easy to get lost in the commercialism of the Christmas. We can find ourselves stuck in busyness and missing some of the more substantive truths of this Season.
It is my hope that you will be able to truly celebrate God’s gift to us as well as the many beautiful reflections of life that you have experienced in this past year while you spend time with family and valued friends and enjoy the many blessings.
For some, it is a Season of trauma and difficult memories. For you who find this season troubling, I hope you can come to a place of realization. There is opportunity to move past traumatic experiences by talking to someone you trust who can process those issues with you and guide you to a place of hope and healing from those imprinted memories.
I send to each of you my wishes for a wonderful Christmas Holiday and a blessed New Year.
Thanks so much for reading Lakeside Connect. I appreciate all of you who are following and sharing our blog.
Gerry Vassar, President/CEO, Lakeside Educational Network
