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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Love is the final Sunday of Advent, the last of the Sundays before Christmas.
Having grown up in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, I will share with you some wisdom from Rabbi YY Jacobson. This applies to the many people who feel unloved this time of year. The Rabbi says there are essentially two choices that we all make: will you be needy or will you be needed.
He says if you decide to be needy, you’re likely to be unhappy. Needy people tend to be bottomless pits. No amount of love, or compassion of help and fill them. They will always need more. And having needs that cannot be quenched is a formula for misery.
Now I am not suggesting that we don’t all need help from time to time. I need encouragement and I’m reassured that there are people who care about me. But neediness is not my default position; I hope it isn’t yours either.
Rabbi Jacobson suggests that being needed is the key to being loved. There are things in life that only you can do. Only you can be a partner for your spouse. Only you can be a mother and father for your children.
If you feel unloved this Christmas, here is a New Years resolution to ponder over the next week or so. What are the things that you can do to help others? It could be something simple. You could offer to babysit the child of the single mother down the street. Take your elderly neighbor out for coffee. Invite someone who would otherwise be alone to share your Christmas meal. Give someone a ride to the store.
I think you will find this Christmas season that to feel loved, become needed by those around you.
Merry Christmas.
Chris Conley.
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