Today’s devotional was about Hope—the hope we have in You. And then I read about the real Saint Nicolas, who gave so freely to the poor. Please let the HOPE of the Gospel permeate every fiber of my soul today. And let me download it to that safe place in my soul which is safer than anywhere on the ‘Cloud’ or in cyberspace.

Plant it deep in my soul, this hope, this joy, this KNOWING that You, God, became a baby.

God became a baby. God became a baby. God became a baby.

May it resonate, may it make the joy well up, may I feel the awe of the shepherds in front of the angels, telling this tall tale that is true.

God became a baby!

And I am like the little drummer boy—with nothing to give that can remotely be appropriate to such a great king. Except…my heart.

So take it again this morning as I sit in our little den, next to the beautiful Christmas tree adorned with all the ornaments of our lives, including the seven lost cross-stitched ones that have been found! Found!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZoAucW6eRauFPmZRA

I look across at the fireplace mantle where nine needlepoint stockings hang—they too were lost and now found!

Then I glance towards the advent calendar that my dear mother sent us in 1989, our first Christmas in France when the boys were mere babes.

One more turn of the head leads me to the place where the santons are perched, on Grandmom’s chest of drawers, each of them bringing their gifts to the Baby Jesus, each of them testifying to almost forty years of Your faithfulness to me in France.

These symbols are important to me. They remind me of Your extravagant gift. They fill my heart with joy until it swells. And then, I ask You, “What can I give?”

I give You my words, my writing, the thoughts and prayers and hope and joy that You have allowed me to put into poetry and prose for others. Ultimately for You, Lord. But if these words can speak of Your Word, of Christ the King Baby, if they can shine the light in the darkness so that others look for Your light, then let them. This is the gift I have to offer.

It is the gift You gave me, and all I am doing, Lord, is giving it back to you, with my heart filled with gratitude and this petition: use my humble offering for Your glory. Not my glory, Lord. Please not mine. May my words fly up to You, taking wings to offer hope and comfort and grace to many.

And may You receive the praise as I sit here, surrounded by sweet symbols of Your love, and take in this mystery:

“The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1: 14

Merry Christmas and Joyeux Noël!

And if you’d like to know about more of my Christmas traditions (and enter a giveaway), head on over to Faithfully Bookish. The giveaway ends on December 26.