Let’s look for positives in our lives this Christmas

FOR the first days of this year’s Black Santa sit-out, the rain fell steadily. But, since the weekend, clouds have parted and a winter sun has brightened up Donegall Street.

For many of us, 2020 has been a grim year. News of a variant coronavirus was as welcome as a day of Belfast drizzle in December.

Some will wonder how we will manage the restrictions ahead. Others fear for their businesses, or jobs.

All of us worry about our mental well-being. Does Christmas 2020 offer any break in the clouds?

Today is Christmas Eve. For children everywhere, there is just one sleep more until the excitement of dreamedfor presents delivered by ‘Red Santa’.

For myself, as Black Santa, Christmas Eve is also a climax to the week-long “sitout that helps out”.

There will be the rush of last-minute donations and thanks will be given to the army of people who make Black Santa happen.

Above all, thanks must go to each person who has donated to this year’s Black Santa appeal, whether digitally online, by cheque, or with coins gathered over months, with folded bank notes, or the emptying of a purse into the barrel.

For every child, Christmas is about the power of hope. In every church, the Christmas story tells how hopelessness is met with the birth of a child and the promise that we do not face the future alone.

The gift of a vaccine. The generosity of carers who will not give up. The resilience of our human spirit in the face of adversity. The giving of pennies that makes possible amazing work by a myriad of charities.

This Christmas, let us search out the positives.

Or, as your granny might have said in times past, “Count your blessings every day.”