One of my favorite pastimes is holding Mia. I love how her little warm body fits perfectly against mine and her whole being seems to relax when she is in my arms. Thanks to our new bout with teething, I am getting to do a lot of what I love as of late. So, this morning, at 2:40 a.m., when she was moaning in my arms- I thanked God for my time with her and concluded there was no other place I would rather spend my time. 2:40 a. m., all of the sudden seemed like a pretty sweet place to be.
I think I finally understand the classic Mom statement..."For Christmas, I just want us all to be together...". When I was younger I thought this statement was a lame way for Mom's to avoid telling people what they wanted for Christmas. I always assumed it meant something like this...
"What I really want is an island vacation alone, but since you are 18 and work at Discovery Zone and can barely pay for gas, I will tell you I want everyone to be together and happy..." But, I am beginning to think maybe there was something to that statement. This year as I thought about what I wanted for Christmas my list came up pretty thin.
Now, let me clearly state here, I am a pro at keeping a running monologue of things I WANT. Between the Pottery Barn catalogue, the J.Crew catalogue, and those infomercials claiming to change your life I could pick out enough stuff to supply a small town in NC with gifts everyday of the year. But, when it comes down do it, it is just stuff. Stuff that cannot meet my emotional needs, stuff that cannot fill my relational needs, and stuff that in the end will deeply interfere with my physical needs when I am forced to lose sleep so I can clean it, wash it, or pick it up and put it back where it "belongs".
Stuff, that frankly, I do not need.
I find myself finally beginning to understand the command the Bible gives us to pray without ceasing, and this issue is one that continues to pop into my prayers. I pray that Mia grows and somehow by the grace of God does not become enamored with the world. I pray that to her the Christmas season doesn't revolve around her wish list of this and that, but that she comes to understand the magnitude of what we celebrate. That the best gift she ever did and will receive came in the form of a sweet baby, whose Mom, merely a child herself by today's standards, stood in awe of him over two thousand years ago in a manager in Bethlehem.
I wonder if Mary's favorite thing to do with her precious first born, was much like mine, simply hold him close and feel his breath in perfect rhythm with hers? I wonder how Mary would feel to know we have taken her sweet baby boy's birth, who was sacrificed for us, and made it into a Hallmark holiday complete with flying animals and an overweight senior citizen?
While I have no problem with tradition and fun, or even gift giving (I actually love, love giving gifts), I do have a problem with a society that will so easily trade their longing for an intimate relationship with Jesus for the fleeting fulfillment of a designer handbag and new pair of boots.
Realizing in that same breath how guilty I am of this myself and how much prayer and work it will take to grow up a child who's first thought about Christmas is Jesus and not her Toys-R-Us wish list.
How sweet that the best gift we have all ever been given was a child who would become a man willing to die for our sins. This Christmas when I look down at my precious baby, I see no need for anything on some list, as it could never compare to what I have already been given...
Grace, I do not deserve.
I think I finally understand the classic Mom statement..."For Christmas, I just want us all to be together...". When I was younger I thought this statement was a lame way for Mom's to avoid telling people what they wanted for Christmas. I always assumed it meant something like this...
"What I really want is an island vacation alone, but since you are 18 and work at Discovery Zone and can barely pay for gas, I will tell you I want everyone to be together and happy..." But, I am beginning to think maybe there was something to that statement. This year as I thought about what I wanted for Christmas my list came up pretty thin.
Now, let me clearly state here, I am a pro at keeping a running monologue of things I WANT. Between the Pottery Barn catalogue, the J.Crew catalogue, and those infomercials claiming to change your life I could pick out enough stuff to supply a small town in NC with gifts everyday of the year. But, when it comes down do it, it is just stuff. Stuff that cannot meet my emotional needs, stuff that cannot fill my relational needs, and stuff that in the end will deeply interfere with my physical needs when I am forced to lose sleep so I can clean it, wash it, or pick it up and put it back where it "belongs".
Stuff, that frankly, I do not need.
I find myself finally beginning to understand the command the Bible gives us to pray without ceasing, and this issue is one that continues to pop into my prayers. I pray that Mia grows and somehow by the grace of God does not become enamored with the world. I pray that to her the Christmas season doesn't revolve around her wish list of this and that, but that she comes to understand the magnitude of what we celebrate. That the best gift she ever did and will receive came in the form of a sweet baby, whose Mom, merely a child herself by today's standards, stood in awe of him over two thousand years ago in a manager in Bethlehem.
I wonder if Mary's favorite thing to do with her precious first born, was much like mine, simply hold him close and feel his breath in perfect rhythm with hers? I wonder how Mary would feel to know we have taken her sweet baby boy's birth, who was sacrificed for us, and made it into a Hallmark holiday complete with flying animals and an overweight senior citizen?
While I have no problem with tradition and fun, or even gift giving (I actually love, love giving gifts), I do have a problem with a society that will so easily trade their longing for an intimate relationship with Jesus for the fleeting fulfillment of a designer handbag and new pair of boots.
Realizing in that same breath how guilty I am of this myself and how much prayer and work it will take to grow up a child who's first thought about Christmas is Jesus and not her Toys-R-Us wish list.
How sweet that the best gift we have all ever been given was a child who would become a man willing to die for our sins. This Christmas when I look down at my precious baby, I see no need for anything on some list, as it could never compare to what I have already been given...
Grace, I do not deserve.
Sweet words. I want to hold Sweet Mia for Christmas...and for she and Levi to grow up as best buddies. Which husband would more easily move cross country?
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