The Grinch WON'T Steal My Christmas...

Today I went to a Basket Bash in West Des Moines.  Perhaps someday I will take the time to describe what a Basket Bash is, but for now I will stick to a story that I hope will stick in my mind for years to come.

The theme of the day was not allowing The Grinch to steal your Christmas.  There are so many things in this world that is warring to steal the joy of the season and it's all at the hands of The Grinch - aka. Satan.  In this time where we are to remember the birth of the most wonderful of miracles I often find myself wrapped up in an overwhelming weight of stress to provide the perfect Christmas for 5 of the most precious people in my life.  I worry that what we wrap under the tree won't leave them eewwwing and ahhhhhing ... that when the last gift has been open somehow they'll be left disappointed.  And if somehow I fail them in this area they will grow up not wanting to have a large family because perhaps they'll continue this legacy of letting down their babies. 

And today I heard Thelma Wells speak...  and she told a story from her childhood.  She was four years old (the same age as my Chubba) and living with her great grandma.  Her great grandmother would lock her in a closet all day... everyday.  There was no food.  There was nothing to drink.  But there were large cockroaches.  And rats.  And so all day she would spend her day in the dark closet not knowing what was running over her feet.  In the evening her great grandmother would take her to church... 7 days a week.

One would think that she would grow up bitter and angry and hating church and most of all hating the God of the church that her grandmother attended.  Instead she learned hymns and at the young age of 4 she put her trust in Christ.  When she sat in that dark closet she did the only thing that she could... she sang those wonderful old hymns.  And today she lives with no scars, no bitterness, no anger and no trauma.  Her God was bigger than that closet and He protected her.

And so perhaps on Christmas Day my children may not have the biggest, the best, the most... perhaps they will be disappointed... but I will teach them about my Jesus.  I will teach them about real joy, the kind that lasts and doesn't have anything to do with wrapping paper and bows.  I will love on them and hug on them and make sure that they know about unconditional love.  I will pray for them and let them know that there is more to life than what we see and feel... I will committ to respect their daddy and I will refuse to give up on my marriage, so that God will be honored in my family.  And we will laugh and sing and dance and hold hands...