God with Us

It's 11:00 on Christmas Eve. The kids are tucked in bed, Scott bundled up in a parka to go to the 11 pm Christmas Eve service at the Anglican church on the corner, and I just finished wrapping the presents and stuffing the stockings.

Our tree is small but bright. It's definitely not the biggest one in the windows you drive by in our neighborhood. But it's full of ornaments, some from long ago, some given to us by dear people, some that commemorate special times of our lives and those made by little hands. The ornaments are mishmash, but somehow they all work together.

The stash under the tree is humble but all we need. It's been a tough end of the year for us and almost everyone else in America financially. Yet the fridge is full, there's money in the bank for another day and the gifts our children asked for are under the tree, plus a few they didn't ask for.

We just spent an evening with our family. Different religions, backgrounds and political views laughed and hugged their way through the evening. We watched a menorah be lit, heard songs sung in Hebrew/Yiddish and then merrily gave and received Christmas presents from each other. Dinner was wonderful and the company even better. It was truly a merry Christmas for us all.

I rejoice and exult in the thought of Emmanuel--God with us. Not many other words carry such power or force than this one. God with me...God in me. He is here.

Oh Lord, let me never get so distracted by the things that I don't have to miss the wealth that You have given me. In life, in possessions, in family, in children, in a husband, in You.

Emmanuel. No other gift on earth could be so dear to me as the gift of You and the life You give to me!