Blessings and Joy

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3 John 1:4

"And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

This past weekend we were so blessed. Beyond blessed, really. We have been working with the children at our church to put on a Christmas play, and last night was the kids performance. They were so wonderful! They did such a fantastic job, and they were so proud of themselves! It was such a wonderful thing to see their faces...they were all so excited and so thrilled to be sharing their hard work with their family and friends. It just was so...almost overwhelming I guess. It was so great to hear the parents afterwards hug their children and tell them what a wonderful job they did- because it was so true! They did an amazing job- every single one of the kids worked so hard to learn their lines and their songs. They deserved every word of praise that they received from the audience.

It was such a rewarding experience, that's for sure. We weren't sure if we wanted to tackle the Christmas program at church, but we really felt God leading us in that direction. And let me tell you, I think God and I had a little argument for a while there about it. I really didn't want to make that kind of commitment. We were out of the theater business for a reason, we really didn't want to take on that kind of stress again. But then God placed a script in front of us, and presented a plan of attack and basically, I got a talking to. We had a talent for theater for a reason, and it was time for us to use it. So with a deep breath, we took the plunge and did as we were asked. (Well, told really.) And because we followed His direction and did as he wanted, the children at our church had such a wonderful experience last night. In return for our hard work and diligence and obedience, we were granted a stress-free experience as well. Everything fell into place when it needed to, and the program went off without a hitch.

But the best part was a few weeks ago when we were talking with Abigail about Christmas. I think we were actually watching the movie The Grinch together, and he was attempting to "steal Christmas." Abigail spoke up then and said something about the fact that Christmas isn't about presents and celebrations. Andy and I both kind of looked at her and asked what Christmas was about then, and she matter-of-factly told us. She let us know that Christmas was about celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus and that he came to earth for us. She gave us this "duh" look and said "just like my Christmas play says." Ding, ding, ding. We had a winner. That was our number one goal with the Christmas program, was that the children themselves would understand the meaning of Christmas. The whole experience was worth that one conversation for us, and we can only pray and hope that all the kids understood the same message that our daughter did.

In the next day or two I'll be packing up the play things and cleaning up the church from the program, and all I'll be able to think about as I do that is all the smiles on the kids faces. They had so much fun, and I am so grateful that God nudged me forward to do what I didn't want to do. What an amazing God.