It was Boxing Day when my husband spied the wishbone on the windowsill and called our two youngest children into the kitchen. “Wrap your pinky finger around it like this,” he demonstrated. “Now, each of you, make a wish and pull.”
Our fourteen-year-old daughter knew exactly what she wanted. If she got the longest piece of the wishbone, our family would be getting a dog. Our eleven-year-old son couldn’t seem to think of anything.
“You already have everything you could wish for,” said his big sister, smiling. She was right. The previous weekend, in the span of twenty-four hours, our little boy’s every wish came true — Daddy’s homecoming from a six-month deployment, a belated birthday celebration with a gift he’d been asking for for months, and then enough snow to fashion a fort and a snowman (something else he’d been begging for for months).
After looking forward to Christmas since June 15th (the day my husband left on a warship for six months), suddenly it was here. And it proved to have been well worth the wait.
For our family, this Christmas felt as picture perfect as a Hallmark greeting card. Hours after my husband’s homecoming, it started snowing, and we woke up the next morning to a winter wonderland. And the wonder hasn’t stopped. Having my husband and all four of our children back under the same roof is enough to make me beam. Add to that the blessing of being together, cooking together, worshipping together, exchanging gifts together, and I am radiant with joy.
There’s been no stress, no hustle. The gifts I chose for each of my children elicited the cheer I’d hoped they would. Even the gravy and the Christmas pudding (which have been known to test the limits of my culinary skills) turned out better than ever.
It’s as if I’m holding a bubble of Christmas joy that keeps expanding, bit by bit. Secretly, I wonder when it’s going to burst, but am left marvelling at its resilience instead.
As I sit here in gratitude for our family’s picture perfect Christmas, I am struck by the fact that I didn’t do anything to make it so. Nothing I did (or didn’t do) brought our Christmas dreams to life. I can take no credit for it. It has simply been a gift.
I am keenly aware that not every Christmas will be like this. There will be other years that the holidays will be full of hard and heavy things. Maybe that’s the kind of Christmas you’re having this year. If it is, I think we can both draw encouragement from the same well. I didn’t do anything to make this a picture perfect Christmas. And, chances are, you didn’t do anything to make this a hard and heavy Christmas. Neither of us can take the credit or the blame.
Whether everything is going right or everything is going wrong, there is a gift for all of us — Jesus. Without our help or effort, without our planning or preparation, without our worthiness in any way, God’s greatest gift came into the world — a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.
Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’ (Luke 2:10-11, NKJV)
I have a little Christmas pillow that says, “Jesus is the gift that perfectly fits the size of every heart.” He is the gift that is thanks to none of us, but meant for all of us. No matter where we find ourselves today, we can receive Him and the eternal life He offers. In joy or in sorrow, with wishes granted or longings delayed, on a snow-capped peak or in a darkened valley, let us find our rest in Him.
“Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in thee.”
(Charles Wesley, 1744)
P.S. – About that wishbone…anyone have a lead on a dog in need of a family?
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