Day 343: This week has been about redefining life. I wrote all of December early to meet a publishing deadline. Today, I’m wavering from what I wrote. This post, in the book, points out my mother was good at redefining; she and my dad were in their twenties when their fathers died. It points out I was 31 when Mom died, and that my eldest son will turn 31 on his birthday next week. But today my thoughts aren’t in the past. I’m thinking of families who lost someone this week.
I work at a university, and this week, a student died. Her death was reported, but not by name. Her anonymity is justified, to give her family privacy to grieve. Yet, this unknown young lady has consumed my thoughts.
My days are busy. I walk through crowds on sidewalks and don’t see a single face. I walk down hallways and past desks. I nod politely at student employees, but I don’t stop to ask who they are. Would I notice if one of them ceased to be there when I pass and nod? Did I know this student who took her life? Is she someone I nodded at? Did she sit across from me in an interview? Did I stand behind her in line at the bookstore?
I will never know her reasons for ending her story so early. Why she didn’t feel she had power to redefine her life. But there are things I can do. I can pray for her family and friends to be comforted. I can look up on the sidewalk and make eye contact with the individuals in the crowd. I can talk to the person in line, or the woman who is blinking back tears in the restroom. I can speak to the people in the offices I pass, so they will know I would notice if they were no longer there.
We celebrate Christ’s birth with the giving of gifts. I’m praying each one of us can reach out to a neighbor, or a passerby, and let them know we see them here on earth with us, that we would notice their absence, and that they are not alone in feeling the need to redefine. No one is anonymous. Unseen. Forgotten. Christ sees us. He knows us. But those truths get cloudy when life gets tough, so it is through us Christ will help those who cannot feel His love. It is through us He will help them to remember they are of infinite worth to Him. He will help YOU to remember it, too.
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