Merry Christmas

I love Christmas. I love that I am in a stage of life that allows me the luxury of experiencing the wonder through the eyes of my three children. Their excitement is contagious and I find myself about to jump out of my skin in almost unbearable anticipation of the BIG DAY. Where Mickey Mouse is the magical attraction at Disney World, Santa Claus is the chubby star Christmas morning. All the planning, all the preparation is so worth the pure happiness we get to witness one morning a year. Don't get me wrong - we love baby Jesus. My children more than understand the reason for the season, and fully embrace the undeserving gift of grace given to all of us by our Father. But for a few minutes, it is pure delight to wallow in my children's joy, as they recognize a toy they can't believe belongs to them. Or the surprise of an unmentioned gift given to them just 'cause. I love to watch them go from toy to toy, without much thought or direction - I call it GADD - gift attention deficit disorder.They just can't decide which ones deserves their focus more.

I don't know for sure, but I believe that when we arrive in Heaven one day, we will react much like my children on Christmas morning. I'd like to think that I will run fast towards the Father (maybe even elbowing a few out of my way) with unabridged joyfulness, not believing that I am finally at home and in His presence. And when I finally let go of his knees , I'll look around and see all those I have come to love - Jesus, Paul, Peter, David, Esther, Joshua, Abraham, Daniel and others - and dart from one to another without much thought or direction - I'll call it HADD - holy attention deficit disorder. Only because I can't decide which one deserves my hyper-attention more.

So while I love Christmas morning, and I am trying to desperately imprint on my brain the memory of these quickly passing days, I eagerly await the moment when God is revealed to us in all of His Glory. When our heavenly Father wallows in pure delight as He witnesses our joy in receiving the Gift we can't believe belongs to us.

Merry Christmas! Enjoy the slideshow!