Invisable

It's the holiday season and everyone is filled with Christmas cheer.
That's a lie.
There are lots of people who are not filled with tidings of comfort and joy. There are people who are hurting and drowning in their sorrow. Like David says in Psalms, their tears are their meat. They walk around with not the sounds of jingle bells but the jingle of the broken pieces of their hearts being carried in their bodies like a bag of trash going out to the curb.
This is not a lie.
For some people, the light of the season has not broken through the darkness of their reality.
This is not a secret. There are stories on the news every year about how some people suffer with severe depression this time of year. But who are these people? Where do they live? Let's take a Gallup poll on how many people can we name that is suffering from extreme sadness. My bet is that if we did, we couldn't come up with one name. Because we don't see.
I am amazed at how many people come in and out of our lives and we don't even notice them. I don't mean what they are wearing or driving, what school they go to or what job they have. Those things are surface so they are easy to discover.
I'm talking about the unseen things that plague people. Do we notice the tears sharing the same face with a smile? Do we see the hollow in people eyes? Do we hear the jingle of broken hearts?
I don't expect everyone to be as in tuned as I suggest, but at least, if you are a believer, should be able to see and discern. It should be hard for people to hide their pain from us. Pain shouldn't be invisible to us.