Too Darned Cold

It was fifteen below when I woke up this morning.  Thankfully, the air was still and there was no wind chill to worry about as I took out the dog.  Both canine and human were focused, wanting to beat as hasty a retreat as possible to the warmth of the parsonage.  Henley's business done, we went inside to warm up.  We, of course, were fortunate.  We had a warm place of refuge.  But somewhere in the Upper Valley, there are people who endured the cold.

As we approach Christmas, and see images of the Holy Family huddling in the manger, we would do well to think of those families, those people among us, equally God's beloved, who are without shelter.  And after we are done thinking, we should do something to help - for if God can come to us in Jesus to offer us new life, we can go to our neighbors and offer them warmth and food and possibility.

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