God With Us

Here it is Christmas night already.  So....Merry Christmas.  This is the little tree in my home that holds all the Operation Christmas Child ornaments I have received since 2004.  I love the memories they give me.

Memories kind of define Christmas and I hope you made some good ones this year.

I'm starting a new tradition.  For the second year in a row I built an Operation Christmas Child box online with my Christmas dinner guests.  It's such a great way to enjoy the holiday.

This morning my husband and I joined some younger friends at a local homeless shelter where we served breakfast and sang some Christmas carols.  I was especially blessed by a man who came up to sing with us and passionately gave glory to God as he sang traditional carols that are really praise songs.  That guy sang with his heart as well as his hearty bass voice.

While we were singing, my husband was listening to a man who just wanted to talk.  Later, I listened to him for a while also.  This gentleman didn't always make sense.  His ramblings seemed to indicate some mental health problems.  But his whole countenance changed when someone was listening to him.

I thought a lot today about the incarnation and how blessed we are to live in the age of grace.  What a blessing to have free access to the Father through Jesus the Son.

Emmanuel.  God with us.  Jesus was born to die to satisfy the wrath of God so we could come near to Him by faith.  And now, Jesus is making intercession for us with the Father.

God with us.  Listening to us.

Lord, help me learn to listen, too.