Silent morning, rain on the roof. Holding the youngest
child in my arms, Images of past
Christmas’ waltz gracefully past my mind’s eye, loved
ones no longer here, loved
ones who are there, friends near
and those so far away.
The Christmas tree in the living room, and I am ten years old again. I blow, and my breath causes the icicles to gently dance and sway. I lay at the foot of the tree. The fragrance of pine reminds me of citrus. From the floor, the lights on the tree gently lift to the ceiling creating a kaleidoscope of color, no two twinkles of combined color is ever the same.
The colors almost seem alive. I imagine small angels dancing.
The tree is small when we buy it, reminding me of the Charlie Brown tree. I am a little disappointed in its appearance. It is all they can afford. But placed on a low table it attains its full share of awe. Once decorated and lit, a sense of royalty entered the in the room, as though the tree suddenly realized who it was.
Perhaps it was my eyes not fully seeing what was always there.
Presents are gathering, some wrapped in the newspaper funny pages, some in brown paper from the grocery store, some in paper saved from last year. I see my name written on a present. Seeing my name in writing gives a feeling of butterflies in my tummy.
My mother tiptoes in and snuggles beside me on the floor. We are silent for several minutes watching the lights dance on the ceiling. She challenges me to think of ways a Christmas trees reminds me of Jesus.
Evergreen, Everlasting; Red balls, Blood; Blue, Royalty; Light of the World, gift from God.
“See your name of that gift?”
“Yes”
You are a gift from God to the world too. Inside of you is a treasure, created by God wrapped carefully in pretty colors. It may not look like much now, but soon you will see…all that is in you, the good and the not so good, all of it, God calls perfectly made. You are created for a purpose; you have a destiny to fulfill at this particular time in history.
The good that you see, is from the Father, you were created in His image. The Father allows the not so good, so that you will always need Him. It is part of the world that is not so good, but God can use it for good when you allow Him to do so.
You will be independent from me one day, but you will always need to be dependent on Him. Jesus is how you stay connected to Him.
The lights you see are always around us, but when it’s on the tree we notice them the most. God is always with you, but it is through Jesus that we see Him.
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Diane W. Bailey is the founder of The Consilium – an online community of wisdom and purpose for women over 45 years of age. She is a published author. Her books include String of Pearls – From Tears to Treasure, and 30 Days To A Better Stepfamily.
She creates her own line of precious metals bracelets.
Diane lives in the Deep South with her husband Doc. Together they have created a stepfamily, each having two stepchildren and two birth children, and share three grandchildren, one black lab named Charlie and one long haired tabby cat named Lil Girl.
Diane’s passion is to encourage women to be all God has created them to be by pressing past fear and daring to live life as an adventure. Some of her life adventures include traveling to Israel, speaking, entrepreneurship and backyard farming with Doc. She loves Gumbo, fried shrimp and seeing all sunsets across water.
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Diane,Merry Christmas to you and yours! This posting was a perfect compliment to the sermon preached this morn by our newest priest on staff-Fr. Alex Leighton. Your mother was so wise in raising you!Thanks for sharing these thoughts.Faithfuuly,ChrisPS-Your beautiful plate arrived and is displayed on a plate stand by my creche in the living room. Thank You!!!
Merry Christmas!
Your mother was a very wise woman and she taught you well. Our gifts were wrapped in last years paper too. Save the paper she would say. Mother would iron out all the wrinkles so we could use again. My cousin always used the colored Sunday funny paper to wrap her gifts. Those were the days !!
This is so sweet. How this story blesses me this night. So much a mother's love can overcome…