"J" is for Jesus!

This past week my preschooler brought home a little project that she needed to complete and then return to preschool the following day.

The project was something crafty, something my daughter very much wanted to work on by herself, and so I initially I didn't pay much attention beyond preparing a clean work surface for her.

At one point, I was walking by and I stopped to watch her work. She was busily gluing little Christmas trees and stars to a foam rubber cut out, shaped like a "J".

"Wow!" I said, "I just love how you are decorating that little "J" for Jesus!"

She stopped working, gave me an exasperated look and said, "Uhhh Mom, this is a candy cane, ok?" (Heavy emphasis on "candy cane".)

"Oh right, so it is." I replied. "Good job with all that gluing."

"Thanks Mom!"

Now, I suppose some Mothers might prefer that their children be decorating little J's for Jesus this time of year; but, I know that my children understand the reason for the season, so I don't feel particularly threatened by candy canes, Santa Claus, or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

So why do I bother with sharing this little mundane snap shot of our lives?

I share it because it shows just how radically and unalterably my perception of who Christ is in my life, has changed.

You see for me, Jesus has become everything! Where others might only see candy canes, I now see only Him!

You cannot understand what a miracle this is, or how profound this change truly is without understanding that for most of my life, candy canes were just candy canes and Santa Claus was the closest thing to God I had ever known.

Long ago, when I was only eight years old, I learned that Santa Claus wasn't real. When that happened, God became unreal too. For nearly 36 years of my life, Christmas for me, has been nothing more than an annual foray into another season of anxiety and crushed hope.

So now do you understand?

Do you begin to understand how truly miraculous it is that I now believe that the hope of human kind was born on Christmas Day?

Do you begin to sense the significance of Christ in my life.....in all of our lives?

.....Hope incarnate.

........Hope enfleshed.

............Jesus!