For us, one of the joys of the 2010 holiday season will be to watch the festivities through the eyes of Lucy.
Lucy Christina, our newest grandchild, will be nine months old on the last day of December. I can hardly wait to see her reaction to the excitement of our traditional Christmas Eve gift opening. As I chose, purchased and wrapped her present this week I've conjured up images of her ripping off the paper and looking - probably with a bit of bewilderment - at what her efforts reveal. On the other hand, we decided it was best to forgo a Christmas tree this year. Our house is small and location options extremely limited so rather than risk her getting hurt we will simply forgo the Tannenbaum. No tree is as important as sharing the thrill of Christmas with family.
Over the past several weeks I've been praying for a new look at Christmas - it's easy to become so accustomed to the story that its significance gets lost in the rush of it all. Lucy provided that during a visit this week. She's a busy little one - crawling, pulling herself up on furniture (we've got to pack away that glass topped coffee table!) and reaching for anything within arm's length. In all that activity however, her eyes turn constantly to where Mom is and at the slightest hint of uncertainly she reaches up to take hold of the one she trusts.
I love how the Gaither Vocal Band describes Christmas: "He came down to my level when I couldn't reach up to His With a strong arm He lifted me up to show me what livin' is."
It's not about religion - that's mans' attempt to reach up to God. It's about salvation - God reaching down to man.
Christmas bridges the distance between His hand and mine!
