Most kids aren’t as brash as this little guy. But this time of year, it gets easy to compare and wonder if Bobby is getting as much or more than the rest of us.
However, Christmas is not a competition. The only way to experience it with joy is to remember the first Christmas gift. After that first gift, nothing else comes close.
Since it is the post-Christmas week and most of us are off work, I am sharing a little of my day with a sketch.
This morning, I was thrilled to take a run with just shorts and a long-sleeve shirt. The temperature was in the mid-fifties when I hit the road. It is something rare for an Ohio, late December morning. It is also something I loved to do in Arizona.
In Luke 2:10, the angel tells the shepherds he has good news that will bring joy. Joy is a concept we confuse with happiness. We can have joy even when we are not happy. Joy is connected with hope. We can be joyful in dire circumstances but have joy because we know this is not the end. Joy is anticipation that there is a good ending and the source is very good.
Cartoon of santa running after his sleigh. Elves are in the sleigh and they look like they are having the time of the life. The caption says, “Thanks to a joy ride, Christmas was nearly canceled!”
I loved this cartoon when I first wrote it because it reminded me of a childhood fantasy. I used to wonder what it would be like to take a ride in Santa’s sleigh. Wouldn’t it be great to take a ride across the countryside on Christmas Eve? All the Christmas lights and moonlight would reflect on the new snow, Smoking chimneys fill the air with the smell of hickory, oak and pine. Never mind that there is probably no seat belts in the sleigh and the airbags have never been tested!
By the way, don’t try this at home, kids. You can’t get a hold of Santa’s sleigh and the only joy ride should be with certified, licensed elves.
May you have a blessed, Merry Christmas!
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
‘Round yon virgin Mother and Child
Holy infant so tender and mildSleep in heavenly peace
Reverend Joseph Mohr
Sleep in heavenly peace
Anybody who thought it was a silent night has never been in a barn. We tend to think of the peaceful, quiet nativity scenes like this coloring page I drew.
We gloss over the nativity story so many times and have romantic notions of what it may have been like. But if it was like any of the barns I’ve been in, there was nothing romantic about it.
What a way to enter the world. What a sacrifice to make!
Merry Christmas!
