My Grown-up Christmas List

All the Christmas decorations and Christmas music have come out of storage and will make my heart happy until sometime after the first of the year.  Christmas is the gift that helps me get through the first dark weeks of late fall/early winter.  With all the added lights and cheery tunes, December flies by and we pass the shortest day of the year practically unnoticed.   I love everything about Christmas, from the sacred to the frivolous.  I love the story of the nativity and I can embrace St. Nick.  I love the lights and sounds and gifts and gatherings.  But I know that Christmas can be less than celebratory for people going through hard times or those who are experiencing loss.  

One of my favorite Christmas songs is one David Foster wrote and that Amy Grant made famous.  It still gets me every time. 

Grown-up Christmas List

Do you remember me
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you with childhood fantasies
Well I'm all grown up now
And still need help somehow
I'm not a child but my heart still can dream

So here's my lifelong wish
My grown up Christmas list
Not for myself but for a world in need

As children we believe
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely wrapped beneath the tree
But Heaven only knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal a hurting human soul

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end,
This is my grown up Christmas list.

As we race through December and the Christmas season, my wish is that each of you would know peace and love and joy this year.  I wish for you all to know that it’s not about all the fluff, but a humble beginning and those gathered there.  It’s about love and light and hope.  May you feel that more deeply than ever before.  May “Joy to the World” be very real for you this Christmas.