I'm Going to Have a Stuffed Animal Party Today

Those of you who know me, know that I have this somewhat annoying habit of waking up in a ridiculously good mood.  A common Facebook post states that 9 out of 10 children get their awesomeness from their aunt.  In my case all 11 of my nieces and nephews are awesome, and I think it is safe to say that all of them get at least some of that awesomeness from me.  My nephew Ethan my not wake up in a good mood at the frequency that I do, but that kid is one wise dude. 

I visited home recently and on the day that I was headed to the airport to return to CA, I got the pleasure of waking him up.  I crawled up next to the five year old and whispered, “Ethie boy!”  With his eyes squeezed closed he said, “I’m gonna have a stuffed animal party today.” 

Without even fully waking up Ethan knew that the day would be a day worth hosting a party.  Every day that I wake up is a blessing and as ruff as a day might look they still are blessed days that are worth having a positive attitude about. So despite everything else, it is still a blessing to wake up every morning.     

Do What You Can

Yesterday I read an amazing book called Hitler's Daughter.  It was written by Jackie French and it made me think about some hard questions.  In the book Hitler's daughter is kept secret, and she does not know of the outside world.  When she hears that many Jewish people would rather hide or run away than go the the "work" camps, she prepares a place for the runaway Jewish people to find solitude. Hitler's daughter cleans a place and covers it with straw, she hides non perishable food items such as jams and jelly's among the straw.

In the book no Jews ever come to place the main character prepared for them, but she still did what she could.    The book was meant for young adults, but I really enjoyed it and it made me remember that even when something big and out of my control happening, I can still do something.

Often to me doing what I can means praying.  I can't solve many of the problems of the world by myself, but what I can do is pray.  It is what you can do.  In fact, it was the King says to do in that Christmas Song, "Do you Hear What I Hear?"  The king says, "Pray for peace people everywhere."  Even though you may not be able to make world peace happen, you can pray, and after all, all you can do is all you can do.

Where I see myself in the Nativity: A Wise Man

I have always wondered, what role would I have played if I had been alive at the time of birth of Jesus.  On the ninth day of Christmas, I had a light bulb come on inside my head.  Notice I didn’t have an epiphany; that was still a few days away.  I would have been a wise man.  I do have wisdom beyond my years, but what makes me similar to the wise men, is that they went to seek out a child.  The wise men traveled for days or even years to find the child, and when they did they fell prostrate and worshiped him.  The wise men were so happy to see this child. They were determined to protect this child because they knew that they had seen one special baby.  To protect the child they had to deliberately deceive their King by returning home a different way, an act which could have had a costly price.  With the price of defiance in mind, the wise men protected the child. 

The sight of a child can make me so happy that I often want fall on my knees to interact with that child.  While I was at my home church for Christmas Eve service, I saw a child and I was so happy I just wanted to hug him.  I was in the front row and after I had taken communion, I walked the length of the Church into the narthex.  That is when I saw the one year old that made my heart melt.  Then I knew exactly how the wise men felt, but it would be days before I was able to connect my feeling to the feelings of the wise men.

A little later that night, after I had blown out Brooke’s candle, I had the pleasure of meeting Flint.  He is a 4 month old, born on the day I was commissioned as a missionary for the United Methodist Church.  When our eyes met for the very first time he smiled really big, because he knew that something special was happening. 

I know that my gifts are with children, and when using those gifts Christ flows through me to children and their families.