Only a few days left of November 2012...savor each one like the last bite of pie washed down with good, hot coffee. Watch and take note of the trees preparing for winter, see the shadows of the sun falling longer and darker, the intensity of the the sunrises and sunsets.
Thanksgiving. Over. Like chairs pushed away from the table after a family meal, napkins crumbled in little heaps, forming small mountains around the table, crumbs gathered forming crunchy piles, plates once heaped with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes and green beans now emptied and scraped of their delicious goodness.
The next season approaches so quickly! Except for a slight hiccup we suddenly go from a thankful heart to the season of "gimme": give me this, give me that...toys for kids, phones, computers, televisions for adults. No matter where we go we are bombarded with stuff that we need and cannot possibly live without, even if we can't afford it!
Instead of the "gimmes", I would like to retain my thankful heart, my vigilant hope in Jesus, the One whom THIS season is all about :)
The awe of gazing into the manger and seeing the Christ-Child, God-became-man, the Savior of the World. I want to relish the quiet hush of the stable, see Mary exhausted and yet content with the Babe in her arms, Joseph so bewildered over all that he's encountered in asking for Mary's hand in marriage yet satisfied in knowing he's done the right thing, the gentle breathing and rustling of the animals in the small place where they are sheltered for the night, a night not really different from any other but for the two visitors from the city of Galilee, namely Nazareth.
Join me in taking a moment each morning in December to come to the place where our Savior was born, kneeling before the manger filled with the Babe, God's one and only Son! O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord, this Christmas season!
