My Grown-Up Christmas List ...

*****Our Little Christmas Angel (Sadie at the Church Christmas Show, December 18, 2005)*****

A little bit belated Merry Christmas to all! As we watched Sadie open the pyramid of presents beneath our tree this morning, I was so overwhelmed with how much we have been blessed by family and friends who love us and take the time and effort to choose things simply to delight our daughter. I prayed that the amount of giving we were privileged to do this year brought joy into the homes of children like Sadie -- giving their parents some relief and the children some wonder. My prayer was that some little bit of this agape that has filled our hearts over the years trickled down through these offerings of common metal, and that the great Alchemist will turn them into purest gold -- so that long after the clothes wear out or the toys are outgrown or the food finishes fueling the body, the memory of His provision in a time of need will remain.

Three things I wanted to post really quickly (before even Hawaii has seen the clock turn past another Christmas Day):

From The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis, Chapter XIII:

He looked around again and could hardly believe his eyes. There was the blue sky overhead, and grassy country spreading as far as he could see in every direction, and his new friends all around him, laughing.
"It seems then," said Tirian, smiling himself, "that the Stable seen from within and the Stable seen from without are two different places."
"Yes," said the Lord Digory. "Its inside is bigger than its outside."
"Yes," said Queen Lucy. "In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." It was the first time she had spoken, and from the thrill in her voice Tirian now knew why. She was drinking everything in more deeply than the others. She had been too happy to speak.

From "Grown-Up Christmas List," by David Foster and Linda Thompson Jenner, from Amy Grant's Home For Christmas:

As children we believed the grandest sight to see
Was something lovely wrapped beneath our tree
Well heaven surely knows that packages and bows
Can never heal a hurting human soul

No more lives torn apart
And wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list

From "Now in Flesh Appearing," by Carolyn Arends, from her album Christmas: An Irrational Season:

We celebrate the baby King and everything He came to bring
Every time we give goodwill to men
So on December twenty-five or in the middle of July
Every time we do what pleases Him
Then it's Christmas...Merry Christmas...This is Christmas
Now in flesh appearing, yeah.

Merry, merry, merry Christmas -- tonight and every night! Peace to you.