We send flowers to celebrate milestones, and to mark sorrow. We send cards for the same reasons. We wish people well, and tell them that we’re praying for them, when they get engaged, married, welcome a baby, graduate from school, buy a new house, and when they are sick, disheartened, or have lost a loved one.

I can’t send flowers to everyone I know who is suffering right now. As of late, it has become a very long list. Deaths, injuries, illnesses, depression, loneliness — they’re a sampling of what we all experience. It’s just particularly hard during the holidays, and my heart is aching for so many people today. So here are the flowers I wish I could send to every one of them. Lately, these bougainvilleas are bursting like fireworks outside my office window, and every time I look up from my computer, I catch the flash of pink out of the corner of my eye. They really do, as science has proven, lift my spirits. Everyone could use some floral fireworks now and then.
 And everyone can use a reminder that, even when they’re suffering, they aren’t alone. Their sorrow doesn’t have to be kept a polite secret. They can hurt, and they can be embraced — especially during the holidays. Please, please, don’t forget the people who are hurting this Christmas — the ones who will “celebrate” alone for the first time, the ones whose lives haven’t turned out according to plan. I know I all too often get caught up in the busy schedule of my own life and forget to tend to the people whose lives are more confusing than my own. That’s something I am working to correct.

I might not be able to send flowers to every one of the people I’m thinking of this Christmas, but I pray for their peace and comfort — and yes, even joy.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” – Romans 15:13.

~ Laura