Grace full mama

Well, Christmas was amazing. We had people, gifts, food, meaningful services at church… we had all of the things that make it such a precious time of feasting and celebration.

Now, I sit here and write, and my house is back to normal. All the wrapping paper mess has been taken to the brush pile to be burned. The tree and it’s lake of spruce needles have been taken out, and somehow it all feels a little bit empty! What is it about Christmas that makes it such an incredible time of year? Why is the anticipation and beauty of Christmas so very precious to so many people?

As I think about this, my mind draws pictures of other things that give me the same feeling deep in my heart. Spring, with it’s budding leaves and babies of all shapes and sizes, promising summer is coming, with peeks of warmth and green growth. That positive pregnancy test that means that Jesus is building a whole person deep inside my body, a miracle that will never grow mundane to me, no matter how many times he does it. Planning a family vacation of any kind gives me that feeling, anticipating the time together, the talks we will have, the closeness that we will share.

I think that it is about hope, this feeling. Deeper than that, it is about the things that are eternal. It is about the times that our soul glimpses heaven through the dark glass that is earth. We see the beautiful new beginnings, the time spent together, the excitement for the things that God is doing, and our soul sings “Yes! Now THIS is what I was made for!”

You see, we were made for Eden. We were made for heaven. Our souls are eternal, and they were made to walk with God on a personal level every minute of every day. Is it any wonder that we love trees in the house, and the first growth of spring, when the setting that God put us in before we sinned was a lush garden? We were made to walk with him in a garden, tending the new babies and watching the green shoots make their way upwards. We were created to partner with him in that setting. We were created to have that Christmas morning feeling about being with him. Joy, hope, and peace… these are the feelings that we were made to feel all the time.

And so, I am left wondering how to keep that feeling all year? How do I keep an eternal perspective, and see the things that are yet to come instead of being focused on the mundane things that need to be done every day? How do I live the busy life of a mom of many while keeping the joy of delicious anticipation in my daily moments?

It is about focus. I can do my work with the same anticipation with which I wrap gifts and make a feast for Christmas, because it is for something bigger. Everything I do is for something bigger. I am partnering with God in the piece of Eden that he has put in my home and my family. I can bring him into everything. I can help my children to discern and hear him. I can be the wayfinder in our home who points us towards heaven and reminds us that we are ambassadors from a much bigger, glorious kingdom. Because we really, really are. Every task I perform, every load of laundry that I fold, batch of biscuits that I bake, diaper I change, and prayer I pray, is in service to the kingdom of God. It is in anticipation of what he is doing, of miracles that he will perform, people that he will save, prophesies and promises that he will fulfil. No matter how difficult the daily trudging is, there is an incredible purpose in it. There is hope for what he can do with my little offering.

I am the boy who had a few fishes and a few loaves of bread, and he is the God who can take my humble gifts and multiply them beyond my wildest imagination.

Christmas is within us, mommas! It’s right there in the name. Ask Holy Spirit for the hope and anticipation for what he is doing to fill you up right from your toes, and bring that joy into every moment. Walk with him in the garden of your soul. There is nothing so “Christmaslike” as partnering with Jesus.