Christmas Eve!

I was five years old and couldn’t wait for Santa…

I wanted presents!

“But you have to go to bed”, said my Mother, “or Santa won’t come.”

Suddenly in the middle of the night, I heard them… the hooves of Santa’s reindeer on our roof…

I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs…

The house was dark…

I was the only one awake…

There were no presents under the tree…

How could I wait till morning?

Years later…

Christmas morning… our daughter woke up very early…

My wife held her back at the top of the stairs while I checked to see if Santa had come, and turn on the Christmas tree lights…

She wanted presents!

“He’s been here!”  I called.

Our daughter raced down the stairs…..

Who can wait for Christmas Day?

Another morning – Definitely not Christmas morning…

Getting out of bed was the last thing I wanted to do…

It was going to be a long day…

Long and boring…

One meeting after another…

I couldn’t wait for the day to be over…

I thought of the joy of all those Christmas mornings…

I wanted presents!

The excitement of not really knowing what was in each box under the tree…

The joy of opening the boxes and finding surprises!

And I wondered… what would it take for me to approach each moment … each hour… each day… as an unknown gift from God?

That’s what God has told us to do…

Psalm 118:24 – This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it

But when I hear that verse at the start of a tough day, I want to say, “Yeah, right God.  You try living down here for a while and see what you think about that advice!”

Oh. Right. You did.

Maybe the secret to following that verse lies in believing that God can change everything…at any moment…

Who knows, maybe God will be gracious…2 Samuel 12:22

Maybe it lies in remembering that God gives us a new beginning every day…

…his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;
Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

And in remembering his promise…

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you ~ Hebrews 13:5