12/18/2019
Every year I write an original Christmas story. I hope you like this year's edition.
And a Little Child…
It was Christmas.
The kids expected all the traditions that happened every year. They wanted to hear the carols and decorate the house and trim the tree, just as they did every year. And every year, she told them the Christmas story in tiny segments throughout the Advent season.
But this year, she just wished that Christmas would disappear.
It had been a year full of challenges, both unexpected and serious. The situation promised to continue without any respite well into the new year. She was wondering how she was going to deal with everything and wondered why God seemed to have completely abandoned her and her family. It seemed almost hypocritical to talk to her children about how much God loved them when she didn’t feel loved at all.
But she decided that children should not be asked to carry adult problems, so at the start of Advent she began telling the story.
It started with an angel named Gabriel who visited Mary.
Each night she reviewed the earlier pieces and then added another part.
Finally, they got to Bethlehem where the inn was full.
“What’s an inn?” asked the four-year-old.
“It’s like a hotel,” she answered.
“Why was it full?”
“Because so many people were in Bethlehem that night, and Mary and Joseph got there very late.”
The seven-year-old, who as the oldest knew absolutely everything, asked why they had not called to make a reservation.
“There were no phones,” she explained.
That brought a chorus of stunned disbelief. A world without phones was an impossibility to her children.
She decided that she needed to refocus on what was really important.
“How do you think Mary and Joseph felt when they found out there was no room for them?” she asked.
Three blank faces stared back at her in silence.
She tried again, changing the question.
“How would you feel if we went somewhere and found out we had no place to sleep? Wouldn’t you be upset or afraid?”
Again silence.
Finally her daughter, the middle child, spoke up.
“No,” she said. “Because I would cry and you would fix it.”
Her brothers, one older and one younger, both nodded happily.
And the young mother realized that she was looking at perfect faith. Her children believed in her loving care without question, no matter what the circumstances happened to be.
It was almost scary.
Later, after her little ones were all safely tucked into their beds, she shared the experience with her husband.
“I didn’t know how to respond,” she said. “So I just moved on with the story.”
He nodded.
“I get it,” he said. “But I wonder when you and I lost that perfect faith? We have been spending all out time being upset and afraid this year. Maybe we should take a page from our own kids and trust that our Father will fix it. Isn’t that exactly what happened at Christmas? He reached into this world and fixed it.”
She almost laughed. “I always thought I would be the teacher, and our kids would learn at my feet. Instead they are teaching me. It turns out that in matters of being a child of God, actual children are the best leaders. Our kids touched my heart with their faith tonight, and it gave the joy of Christmas back to me. I guess that what Christ meant when He said …and a little child will lead them.”
Merry Christmas!
Copyright Peg Luksik 2019
