Christmas Stories

The Christmas season is upon us, and my family is starting a new tradition this year of unwrapping a new Christmas book each day leading up to Christmas. We owned several winter/Christmas themed books already, but we needed to add to our collection, so I began searching for some old favorites. After sharing some of these stories with my daughter, I realized that some of them were fairly dark:

“The Small One” by Charles Tazewell, is about a donkey who is too small and too old to do the heavy work required, and must be sold, but nobody will buy this sorry creature except the tanner. Just when the young owner has given up hope of saving his beloved donkey’s life, a man comes along. He doesn’t have much money, but he has a pregnant wife, and a long journey ahead of him to a little town called Bethlehem…

“A Tale of Three Trees” is a folk tale about one tree who hopes to be made into a treasure chest, another who dreams of being a great sailing ship for kings, and a third who longs to remain on the hilltop forever, pointing proudly to the heavens. All three are cut down, and the first is turned into a feedbox for animals, the second into a humble fishing boat, and the third is hewn into rough beams and left in a lumber yard. Years pass as the trees each mourn their dreams. But one day, the feedbox is surprised when it is used to hold a baby, the fishing boat carries a man who can calm a storm, and the third is made into a cross.

In “the Other Wise Man,” by Henry Van Dyke, Artaban plans to join his fellow Magi to give gifts to a newborn king. On his way to meet his companions, he is delayed when he stops to help a dying man on the road. When he gets to Bethlehem, he is too late: the holy family has fled to Egypt. Herod’s soldiers arrive to kill all the baby boys, and he saves a child by bribing the soldier who comes for him. He spends the next 33 years searching to no avail, gradually giving away all of the wealth he had brought for Jesus except for one pearl. He finally arrives in Jerusalem only to discover that the King for whom he has been searching is about to be crucified. As he rushes to see, he encounters a girl who is to be sold into slavery to pay off her father’s debts. He buys her freedom with his final treasure, just as Jesus dies on the cross. He is injured during the earthquake, and is ushered into heaven with words from Matthew 25:40 “Inasmuch as you have done to the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

Why do I love these stories so much? These are tales of broken dreams: A worthless donkey destined for the glue factory; Trees filled with hopes for great purpose, being used in lowly, demeaning ways; A Magi who spent his whole life searching for the King, but arrives empty-handed only to find him dying.

But more than that, these are tales of redemption: The worthless donkey carries Mary to Bethlehem and is present at the birth of the Christ child. The manger tree holds the greatest treasure in the world, the fishing boat tree carries the King of Kings, and the final tree stands high on its hilltop, pointing the world to Heaven. Artaban’s life goal was to meet Jesus and give him the finest gifts money could buy, and though he thought his mission a failure, he learns in the end that every act of kindness, every generous gift was given to God, and his faithful seeking came to an end when he met the King face to face in His glorious kingdom.

These are not just stories, they are our stories. How many of us feel, like the donkey, that we have nothing to offer anyone? How many of us dreamed like the trees of a perfect job and grand life, only to find ourselves working for low-wages outside our chosen field just to pay off our student loans? How many of us feel like our whole life has been wasted on a failed mission? We all need redemption.

The donkey wasn’t chosen because he was special, he became special because he was chosen. The roughly hewn trees held no intrinsic beauty or worth of their own, but they became timeless symbols of the greatest story ever told because of who they held. Artaban spent his whole life hoping to pay tribute to the new King, without realizing that he already was serving him everywhere he went. Jesus made them beautiful. Jesus made them treasures. Jesus fulfilled their dreams in ways they never could have guessed.

So friends, if you question your value, know that Christ has deemed you precious enough to die for.  If you feel unworthy, remember that Jesus has offered himself to be judged in your place, so that when God looks at you, he doesn’t see the crude vessel, he sees his perfect Son. If you feel lost and searching, God will meet you where you are. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

If you find yourself seeking, or longing for redemption, I would encourage you to start here, or here.

Weary

I was bouncing a screaming baby in one arm and wrestling a tantruming toddler into time-out with the other. I ran into the kitchen to discover that lunch was burning on the stove, and then I saw Kaja’s glasses. She had taken them off earlier because of a bloody nose, and Teddy must have gotten hold of them. These nine long weeks have left me broken. We had a baby, then three weeks later, within 24 hours, I went from “just” caring for three young children on my own (while recovering from surgery) to an infected incision, a toddler with a broken leg, and a sick child. Did I mention we had a newborn? Four rounds of illness have now swept through our family, and not one of us has been spared. Every time I dare to hope we are on the mend, something new knocks us down again. I am so, so tired. Tired of being sick, tired of doctor’s visits, tired of prescriptions, tired of respiratory distress, tired of fevers, tired of the question “Should we take him to the ER?” Tired of sitting up all night with miserable little ones, tired of crying children. So tired. Yet in my head echoes a little ditty that Kaja likes to sing. The words are from Galatians 6:9 “Let us not grow weary of doing good. In due season we shall reap, if we don’t lose heart.” That bouncy, obnoxious little tune won’t get out of my head, and for once I am thankful for earworms.
Jesus was no stranger to this kind of suffering. He knows what it’s like to have people pressing in on all sides, he knows what it’s like to constantly have people needing him, wailing for him, practically hanging off of him. He knows what it’s like to be exhausted: he was so tired he slept through gale force winds! He was constantly on his feet, teaching and caring for the sick. He would rise before dawn and escape to a mountain outside of town, and people would find him and interrupt his prayers (I don’t have a mountaintop, but I swear, one day Teddy is going to learn how to pick the lock on the bathroom door). Christ was pouring out his life for us even before he was crucified, and he was faithful to this mission out of love for the Father. I tell my children every night “God made you, so you belong to God. God loves you and wants you to love Him back.” Despite all our shortcomings and rebellion, the Almighty Creator of the universe valued us enough to send his son to suffer and die in order to restore what was broken and bring us back to Him. Renewed lives, repaired relationships, perfect unity. The reward makes the suffering worth it. So let us “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. Who, for the joy set before him endured the cross.” (Heb. 12:2) God treasures you, and God treasures your children. Don’t grow weary of doing good: he has prepared these good works for you (Ephesians 2:10), He will not leave you to do them alone (Matthew 28:20). 

The Shoe Game!

The shoe game: 
Make two piles of shoes, with one shoe from each pair in each pile. 
Put them far apart, this uses up extra energy. wink emoticon 
When you say "go!" Each child grabs a shoe from one pile, runs to the other to find the match, then runs to the door to line them up neatly. You can do it simultaneously as a race, or take turns (I prefer this way, since we're working on turns in this house...).
Teaches different skills across varying age levels: matching, colors/size ("can you find the other blue shoe?" "oh, this shoe is too big to be a match!"), counting to 2, counting BY 2's at the end to tally up the pairs, right and left as they're being lined up, the important life skills of finding matching shoes and putting them away neatly, taking turns, etc. Plus the farther apart your piles and door are, the more energy they'll burn! And when they get bored of this game, shoes are fun to play with! They want to try on each other's shoes, wear them on their hands, and just be silly. I played it today with my 5-year-old and 18-month-old, and I first "invented" this game with a class of kindergarten, first, and second graders, so it works pretty well for a sibling game or across age groups (older siblings can practice helping the younger ones, too!).
(Adding mom's fancy shoes, dad's big shoes, or dress up shoes is extra fun, too!) :)