CHRISTMAS MESSAGE: No greater gift than gift of love

Article by OPPOSITION LEADER MIA MOTTLEY

The following is the Christmas message from Opposition Leader Mia Mottley.

Season’s greetings, my friends, and my very, very best wishes for a brighter and more prosperous 2018.

Today is the day that our Christian faith tells us that we should celebrate the birth of the Christ Child and, in so doing, remember His teachings of neighbourly love, compassion for the poor, tolerance, faith and forgiveness.

This year 2017 has been a difficult one for many of our friends and many of our neighbours. Some have lost loved ones and indeed, others have found themselves in straitened financial circumstances. But we all know that with faith, there is always hope for a better tomorrow.

My call to us today is to remember those of us who are less fortunate. And whether through a kind word, a gift, or even a hot meal, to share the spirit of love that was central to Jesus’ teachings.

Let us remember Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:13: “These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

There is no greater gift than the gift of love; we know that. So let us today draw our friends and our family close to us. Life is too short and can sometimes be cruel, sometimes uncertain. But today as we celebrate God’s gift of His only begotten Son, and as we recall His sacrifice, let us spare a thought and a prayer for our nation and our fellow Barbadians.

We know that there is nothing we cannot overcome if we are united in the same cause. That has been our experience which has been the experience of our foreparents.

I want to pray God’s blessings on each and every Barbadian, no matter where you are and no matter what your faith, no matter what your circumstances. We can do this all together but we need to work together and to love one another.

On behalf of the Barbados Labour Party and on behalf of my own family, I wish you all a happy Christmas, but above all else, that we be inspired by the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ in His example of love, for we know that with love, as I said before, we can achieve everything working together.

God bless each and every one of you. God bless Barbados.