In the final moments of Charles Dickens’ classic, “A Christmas Carol”, the narrator tells us this of Ebenezer Scrooge, “and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”

Scrooge had been transformed. The most obvious sign was that he quickly began to see himself in a new light; however, upon closer inspection, his transformation did so much more. After the three ghosts had visited him, the change was immediate. He ran out of his house and donated to a local charity whose sole devotion was to help others in need. He gave his assistant Bob Cratchet a raise and saved Tiny Tim’s life by choosing to help his family, rather than take advantage of them. Ebenezer Scrooge did not just begin to improve his life; he began to improve the lives of those around him.

“He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses and up to the windows, and found that everything could yield him pleasure.  He had never dreamed that any walk—that anything—could give him so much happiness.”

Scrooge had found true happiness, something that we all yearn to discover. At the end of  New Year’s Eve, many of us will resolve to be happier in the new year. We will look to weight loss plans, listen to podcasts to try to be better organized, and read self-help books for the secrets to happiness, but this year, I propose we do something new. This year, I propose that we look to one another for our happiness.

Though it seems as if many things are dividing us, we must first concede that it is us who are responsible for those divisions. We have made a choice to not be with others. That was the choice that Ebenezer Scrooge had made, a choice that was so clearly proven to be wrong through the visitation of three spirits who reminded him that the business of life was not just about him. The business of life was about mankind. As his partner, Jacob Marley explained, “The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business.”

I think we can all admit to, at one time or another, falling into the same trap that Scrooge fell into. So, my solution to this problem is the same one presented to us by Charles Dickens: that we should all vow to learn how to keep Christmas well.

We all have the capacity to be better neighbors, better parents, better husbands and wives, and better friends. We all have strangers around us. Let us meet them and begin to show that we care, because caring for one another is how we keep Christmas well. It’s how God blesses us, everyone.