These lonely people had no family and no friends who would look in on them on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so they came to Emergency and checked in. Dr. Gobizi's policy was to welcome them, even though they had no urgent reason to be there.
Correction..... loneliness IS urgent.
Dr. Gobizi would go to the hospital on Christmas Day and walk the halls visiting every patient. It might be as few as four or five. But, his culture originated in Ethiopia, and in that nation loneliness is to be eliminated by those who notice.
Who do you know who will be alone tonight, Christmas Eve? You can pass them off by assuming they don't make enough effort to make friends and are suffering the results of their careless life.
SO WHAT?
That is no reason to leave them alone. Christmas is a horrible evening and day to be alone with no one to look in on you. There is nowhere to go to hang out and drink coffee. All those places are closed on Christmas. At least make a phone call. Better yet, call them now, and invite them to be with you for dinner tomorrow.
God can make sure your turn comes one day, and this is an urgent opportunity to pay it forward to give God reason to have mercy on you in your later years.
There is a promise in this from Jesus Christ himself:
Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
The photo above was chosen on purpose. We often think of old age as the most common time of life to be lonely. That is quite true, but we are told that many millennials are suffering from loneliness. Do you know a young adult who is alone tonight and tomorrow? There will be no Fa La La La La for them, and they may be thinking dark thoughts.
Now, go do the right thing.
