Author Lisa Harris

Merry Christmas!

Shopping has never been my favorite past time. Shopping around the holidays is even worse, but sometimes it has to be done. The grandparents have all given toward a jungle gym for the kids’ Christmas this year, but I wanted to pick up a few last minute gifts for under the tree. (Yes, four days before Christmas is very last minute. Blame it on a leaky roof, a book deadline, snakes in the garage, and. . .well. . .you get the picture).

I drove twenty minutes to the only mall near us (the word mall being loosely used here), and being the holiday season, the shops were, of course, crowded. Needing a few groceries first, I pushed my way around the other shoppers, as well as the stockers who were unloading goods onto the empty shelves. No, they don’t stock the shelves at night--that would be too easy. It’s all done during the busiest part of the day.

With the temperatures rising outside, and no air-conditioner inside, I began to get hot and irritated. They were out of half of what I needed, and the other half I couldn’t get to without bumping another shopper out of the way. Looking for presents for the kids wasn’t any easier. There is no Toys R Us in our town, or in any town nearby. Instead there’s the equivalent of the dollar store with New York prices. It didn’t take me long to realize that except for a couple of videos, I wouldn’t be buying any presents for my kids in town this year.

By the time I reached the car two and a half hours later, I was beyond frustration. (Okay, it wasn’t quite as bad as when I went shopping and found a cow’s head in a deep freeze at the local grocer, but that’s another story). The entire morning, had, it seemed, been a disaster of sorts, leaving me anything but in the Christmas spirit.

Then it hit me as I drove home. Christmas isn’t about presents, or what everyone is getting this year. It’s about one crucial event in history.

“For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

That’s what it’s really all about. Growing in our relationship with our Heavenly father because He loved us enough to send His only son to earth. This year, our kids might not have as many presents under the tree, but they instead are getting the chance to build a deeper relationship with their earthly father as they work together to build a jungle gym. A deeper relationship with my Heavenly Father is what I want to desire most of all this coming year.

May the peace of God our Father surround you this Christmas season!

Lisa