Christmas Remembered

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. For He has taught me more about grace this Christmas season through the behavior of my children that privately brought me tears of joy.

In an earlier post titled, "How did Christmas get so screwed up," I lamented the fact that I have confused my children regarding the true meaning of Christmas. I prayed for God to forgive me for confusing my children's hearts with things that were not of Him and that his true love would shine through in their hearts this Christmas season. I know now that this prayer was answered and may have already been answered before I knew it. My fear was that my children would somehow be disappointed on Christmas morning and through that disappointment they would lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas, God's gift to this world through the birth of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.

Preparing for the worst but hoping for the best on this Christmas morning 2008, I was pleasantly filled with joy. My children taught me a little more about grace and humility on that day, giving me another booster shot of faith that eventually brought me to tears.

The dilemma was they had Christmas lists that were at least a mile long and they were going to receive only a few things from those lists. Even though I know that the only good gifts come from God and are not of this world, still we have somehow bought into the materialism that is our societal norm evidenced by our daughters' wish lists.

Christmas morning came and our daughters received a modest amount of gifts from Santa, her parents and her grandparents. But instead of the disappointment I expected to see from them, I saw grace, humility, thankfulness, and love.

It culminated in an exchange between Monica and Kaelyn.

Monica: [to Kaelyn] "Did you get everything you wanted?"

I cringed when she asked this, thinking that the response would be disappointing.

Kaelyn: "Yes... and then some"

I'm quite certain that no one saw the tears that welled up in my eyes at Kaelyn's response to my wife's question. These tears of joy were evidence to me that Kaelyn knows that Christmas is not about getting every single thing you write down on your list. Later I asked her what is the reason that we celebrate Christmas. She answered simply, "Jesus' birth."

That is all I needed to hear.

All praise and glory are yours, God. Thank you for blessing me with children who know you better than I do. Thank you for having faith in me even when I doubt you at times. I do not know why you have blessed me far beyond my wildest dreams because you know I don't deserve it. But I'm so glad that you have. I pray that you will allow me to utilize those blessings to bless others in ways that they give you praise and glorify you.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Only His name isn't Santa Claus.

Thank you, God.