Alone During Holidays! What to do?

It's Christmas season and people are buying gifts and getting ready to celebrate. People also celebrate other holidays, including New Year,

Commercials attack our sensors. The eyes gaze at many adds. The ears hear blaring commercials. The seasonal smells engulf us. Everywhere the messages try to convince us that we have to buy gifts in order to make our friends and family happy. Commercials also try to convince us that our happiness depends on things we buy, on car we drive, on the travel destinations, on jobs we have, on groups of people we spend time with, on the way we look, on a car we drive, and on many other things. 

According to commercials, happy people are those whose lives are going great, those who have great jobs/careers, and those who have the latest gadgets. Some commercial say that our meaning of life is happiness of our loved ones. Here is the catch, in order to reach happiness you have to buy things--spend money. If a person gives you an expensive gift it means that the individual cares abut you a lot. But it means that you have to buy an expensive gift in return. Many people get credit from a bank in order to get expensive gifts. Some end up in a debt because of their shopping habits.
We are also bombarded with constant messages--it's horrible to be alone for the holidays, especially Christmas.

Our society puts immense pressure on individuals to avoid loneliness. Sometimes people endanger themselves just to avoid the loneliness.

You can be lonely anytime anywhere, even in a crowd. I had been to social gatherings where I felt lonely. You will be lonely in a group of people when you cannot connect. Honestly, the loneliness was so overwhelming that I felt less lonely in my apartment by myself. Just because you share a faith doesn't mean that you will not feel lonely among the people.
If you find yourself lonely this Christmas or the holiday season in general there are the things you can do.

The Environmental Role

How do we treat things that we don't own: with care and respect. Especially if someone asked us to look after the stuff. When someone asks us to look after a pet or to house sit (to look after the house while the owners are away), we do it with great diligence. Some people wouldn't do it. However, every rule has an exception.

When the Hate Finds the Gate...

Hate towards other people...

Everyone has a capacity to hate others. But hate can slowly poison your life. Many times it enters our hearts discreetly.  We might even miss the moment.
I used to hate a few people. By God's grace, I don't hate them anymore. A heart free of hatred is one of the best gifts.
The hate came into my life when I was young--around the age of nine, it might have been earlier, but it manifested itself when I was nine years old.

Who Am I?

We all asked that question. The answer depends on the context; a nurse, a student, French, seeker, a personal assistant, and many other responses.
Few months ago I ordered a DNA testing kit. Last week the results were in. According to the test I am 99.6% European. That wasn't surprise. Out of my European lineage 85.3% is Eastern European, Interestingly enough, the test didn't differentiate between Eastern European populations. So I don't know how much Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, or any other Eastern European DNA I have. Also, there is 6.4% Northwestern European, 0.8% Finnish, 1.4% French and German, 4.2% broadly Northwestern European, 4.1% Southern European, 2.8% Balkan, 1.3% broadly Southern European, and 3.9% broadly European. As for the rest of My DNA: 0.1% Yakut, <01% Mongolian, <0.1% Native American, <0.1% South Asian, and 0.2% unassigned.
So here is my genetic mix. Thanks to 23andMe company. I am glad that I did this test. I am more diverse than I expected.

105 Operation Christmas Child: Shoe Box packing Ideas

Christmas Season is rapidly approaching. Many churches have already started collecting shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, ran by Samaritan's Purse. The box gives child hope. Many of those children don't have basic necessities: soap, toothbrush, comb...It saddens me just to think about it. 
I have been packing shoe boxes for several years now. Packing those boxes is a very rewarding experience.  Below are 105 ideas for the boxes. Remember those children have very little.

Puzzling Life

So many people are trying to figure out life. Life is a mystery. The more we learn about life the more we become puzzled. We all plan things. All of us make plans. Many plans turn out not the way we would like.

That Parent Figure.

I don't have any children. I am not married. It doesn't mean that I cannot be a motherly figure. A parent is involved in all aspects of child's life: physical development, personal, educational, mental, emotional, spiritual, and so much more. Parents have the greatest responsibility--to raise another human being.