Dear Santa, Bless the Troubled

Over the last few weeks I’ve been attempting to write a series of letters to Santa. This letter was supposed to be for this past Monday, Dec 17. We had a storm that messed up the internet and our letter schedule. Therefore, this is letter #3. Please note, there are no promotional links because this isn’t about selling, this is only giving.

Dear Santa, Bless the Troubled

Dear Santa,

This is not a letter of thanks, Santa, but a letter asking for your kindness and aid. I hope you can hear me, Mr. Claus, because what I have to ask would normally go up to The Big Guy Upstairs, but I’m hoping to get a fast track to Him through you.

Santa, first, I want to ask for others to find empathy and compassion for those who are lost. This time of year gives rise to confusion and loneliness. Many feel lost, without anyone to turn to, without a home, family or a friend. As a result, there are numerous suicides (or attempts). When that happens, it seems the trolls come out to play. I hear things like, “well, its his/her own fault.” Or “why didn’t they speak to someone?” 

Good question, right? Why didn’t they? Probably because they were shy, confused, ashamed, depressed, and part of the many lost in the holiday rush. Children who need a kind hand, a strong and loving foster home, or a wish to be adopted. A senior citizen who puts on a smiling face but when the sun goes down find themselves completely shut off from the world. Don’t forget those seniors in the homes who feel dumped, passed over, and forgotten.

We need to remember these lonely souls, the young and the old, the forgotten and the deserted, the anxious and afraid. They need special kindness.

The next group of people I wanted to ask you to support are the sick and the physically challenged. Santa, there are many friends who have battled cancer or who are currently battling cancer…along with several others who have various diseases. It seems the sweetest and most giving end up struggling in some hospital bed putting on courageous faces for friends and family. However, I know that most of these people are worried and scared, deeply afraid that their future may be short or the view of tomorrow will be one of sterile walls and beeping machines.

Santa. those people facing disease or who are physically challenged are the second group of the lost. I want to ask you for them to know love and compassion, to find faith and courage, to know others are praying and encouraging them to keep going. I want them to know I’m more than a face in the online darkness but someone who actually cares and worries and believes they have a fighting chance for a future. Santa, give them that fighting chance. Show them how strong and fierce they can be and help them to find a secret strength they didn’t know they had within them.

Finally, Santa, the hardest lost of them all are the grieving. Whether the tears come from death, flood, fire, or finances, the deep sorrow of grief can be paralyzing, debilitating, stress beyond normal ranges, with a hollowness that no amount of laughter or cheer can fill. Worse, when the grief first happens, so many are there to commiserate and shed tears, offer hugs, and encouragement. But as the weeks crawl by, people leave as their lives go on. Meanwhile, the grieving are stuck in the moment without any way to find forward motion. People need to come back and follow up, check in, remember that grief takes time and life for the grieving is a slow moving carousel. 

Remember that losses coming during the holidays are the hardest to recover from and those are the final examples of the troubled ones. Santa, give them hope. Give them company. Give them random acts of kindness and suprrises. Remind them what joy is and help others to share theirs.

Santa, the forgotten or the lost, the physically troubled, and the grieving are my special cases this year. Please reach into their hearts and share your love with them all. Tell them how much others care for them, worry and pray. Be there for them and pass along our hearts.

This is the candle of hope I light for them. Santa, share this light and help them to feel lost no more.

One more letter coming, Santa. On Christmas Eve I will ask for my most precious wishes. I know you’re wondering what those could be!

Meanwhile, I wish you and the elves good health and good cheer. Merry Christmas dear man. Until the last letter…

I remain, Yours Between the Lines,

Sherry