CHRISTMAS IS A WONDERFUL TIME

Tonight is Sunday, December 20th. I am counting the days until Santa comes - really and truly I am excited about Christmas. At my age that is most unusual. In fact, as I walked the hall from Sunday School to the auditorium this morning I heard it said several times "I'll be so glad when it's over". That makes me sad to think that people are actually wishing their lives away like that. Especially over a wonderful time like Christmas. We should always be filled with the spirit of Christmas but it seems that at this time of year when, as the saying goes, "Hope springs eternally", we should be filled with the spirit of love, hope, peace and lots of good will. I know that there are so many things going on in the world that those things are sometimes impossible for us, but, after all that is what Christmas is all about. That is what Jesus gave us just by being born. We should spend the holidays celebrating Him rather than wishing it away. I guess that I am more inclined this year than ever before to be mellow about the holidays because a few months ago when Kim was so sick and I was so worried and the whole family was in such a state of depression and fright I didn't know whether we would be celebrating anything or not. Christmas was certainly not on my mind. When your child is critically ill and then begins to show the signs of improvement that Kim has shown it has made me so grateful to God and so full of joy and love. To see Kim's house decorated, gifts that she shopped for wrapped in gold paper with big red bows, and to see her enjoying everything that is happening makes tears of joy in my eyes. This past week Kim had a "thank you" event for the people that helped her so much while she was so very ill. She hired a limo and invited her sisters, four good friends and me for a Celebration of Lights tour in various parts of Nashville, Brentwood and Franklin. She served us refreshments and we had a wonderful time laughing, talking, singing and oohing and aahing over the beautiful Christmas lights that we saw. As we were riding to our first stop she made a toast to her Angels that had been there day and night and physically helped her and prayed constantly for her. Then she presented each one of us with Angel Christmas Ornament. It was a lovely party for us and the best part of the party was to see her looking so pretty and sitting there in that limo having such a good time. As someone said that night "we are looking at a miracle" and I said amen to that. It just made me realize one more time that God is good - all the time.