Today is the first of December. Many of us are thinking about Christmas. We are bundling in coats and trudging through the snow or splashing in puddles as we rush to work and then stores as we pursue shopping treasures. Or we are simply staying out of the cold and letting our fingers do the shopping.

This Christmas season I have a son in Brazil. Yes, they celebrate Christmas, but no, it’s not cold there. Where he is doesn’t ever get cold like where he came from in Ohio or New York. His Brazilian winter is about the same as our summer, but right now, it’s not even his winter! It’s summer in the Southern hemisphere. It’s hot and humid for him. I understand it’s common for people to shower twice a day because of the weather.

I must admit that until I had a son living in Brazil I didn’t even think about Christmas being anything but cold and snowy. I didn’t consider another perspective or that someone else’s reality was not like my own. I can’t say that I will ever completely understand that alternate reality, but I do at least acknowledge it.

During this Christmas season when we celebrate the life of the only perfect man to ever walk the earth, may we all take a few minutes to consider others, to think about all that we have and what they might lack – be that physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually. Can we share? Can we be like the Master and “Do unto them” as He taught us to do. This would be my Christmas wish.