During the week of Thanksgiving, Celia sang at a community thanksgiving service. The sermon topic was, of course, thankfulness.
One illustration has stuck with me. The preaching pastor, Alan Clark, had chaperoned a high school youth choir trip to England. One of the stops on the trip was the Tower of London. If you’ve been to the Tower of London, you know there are several very valuable artifacts on display. One of the big displays is jewelry that has belonged to the royal family through the years. Alan said the place was full of visitors who were awestruck at the jewels they saw. There was another group of people there. There were a number of security guards doing their jobs. The guards were not in awe–they were at work. From the outside looking in, they seemed unimpressed by the jewels. This was stuff they saw everyday.
As human beings we quickly take things for granted. I think that’s particularly evident this time of year. With the to do lists and the commercialism that the holidays bring, it’s easy to skip over the incredible gift that is ours in Christmas.
Maybe that is one reason children are great to be around at Christmas. They are seeing it anew. Our three year old, Max, is practicing his songs for the children’s choir program at church. He walks around the house singing about the camels going to Bethlehem to see where Christ was born. Two days ago he and I listened to Linus re-tell the story from Luke on the Peanuts Christmas special.
This year, we invite you to hear the story anew and to celebrate with awe–like you’re celebrating for the first time! Merry Christmas