We aren’t that lucky though. We have to confront the cold, and not just the low temperatures on the thermometer. We face a world where people are cold to each other. We look upon our fellow human beings as problems, competitors or even enemies, and once we label another this way, we find it hard to offer respect, care, compassion, forgiveness and community—all those things which can potentially warm our relations with each other. We need an ice breaker to come between us, to clear the way to take a second look and see our common bonds with each other.
Our faith is this vessel to break through the frozen straits of partisanship. We believe that God made us in His image as His children, so we are brothers and sisters in the Lord and fellow disciples on life’s journey. These categories should create warm waters around us where we can live and work together, where we help each other, and where no one is abandoned in their suffering. Therefore, we begin with this vision before us to face the cold facts of our harsh world and solve the problems they create.
The refugee is a neighbor. The drug addict is a wounded brother or sister. The poor have a place at our table. The unborn and the elderly are precious members of the human family. How we include these and other vulnerable persons in our world can be challenging dilemmas, but we must first view them as persons, not problems, as companions on mother earth not competitors for limited resources; as people who want respect for their traditions, safety for their homelands and a good life for their children not enemies on battlefield earth.
The cold can make us want to crawl into a ball, hide inside and attack anyone who threatens our warm space. Cats deal with it that way. God’s children deal differently. Whatever the temperature is outside, may the gift of grace warm our hearts to see each other as God sees us.
