It's Looking A Lot Like Christmas!

As I sit at the kitchen table looking out upon the fairway of the golf course outside my window, I find myself lost in memories of Christmas’ past.  Sounds of “It’s Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas♫” drift from the stereo speakers throughout the house and I can’t help but think of the endless pictures I have swirling around my mind, beginning with those very first presents that Piper and I opened up in the living room of my parent’s house way back in 1970, to the many Christmas Eve’s we spent wrapping presents late into the evening for our children’s glee the next morning.  Then there were the countless Christmas mornings where we sat around the tree while the kids tore open their gifts as Piper looked on with her get-up-quick tussled hair, sleepy eyes but yet contented look of peace and joy on her face… dressed in the fluffy white bathrobe I gave her in the early 1980’s.

I was so exited when I purchased that bathrobe for her.  It was a big deal for me at the time as I went to Macy’s to get her what I hoped was the best robe around.  I went on my evening lunch break from my supervisor’s job at Hewlett Packard and when I returned to my desk my whole crew was waiting to see what I had gotten her! 

When I opened the box, they began to prod one young lady who worked with us to model it because she was similar in stature to Piper… You have to understand that this work team was like an extended family to us.  They all knew Piper and we even had them over to our house for an authentic Italian Bagna Cauda fondue type dinner one weekend… We all laughed so hard that evening as she paraded around the floor, turning and posing like a runway model!  It is interesting to note, that many years later, her husband became our youngest son’s basketball coach at the Santa Rosa Christian School… just coincidence ya think???

Earlier this morning as I made the bed, I glanced up at the grouping of photos of Piper that I had recently attached to the wall and couldn’t help but stop and stare at one photo in particular, where she is leaning against the fence post in front of our room at the Fort Ross Lodge sometime in the late 1990’s.  She was wearing one of her skirt/shorts outfits that I loved to see her in as it showed off her pretty legs and she just had a sweet, what I would call “Jimmy” smile on her face… that was a smile just for me… that said “This a good pose, isn’t it!”

I began to pray at that moment and commit this Christmas to the Lord.  I prayed that the Lord would help me through this second Christmas without her and help to fill the huge caverns that were left open in me when she went home to Jesus.  I prayed about all the wonderful things that she did for me as well as what she meant to me.  I also thought about all the monstrously big miracles that the Lord did for us through those 48 years together… and then I immediately thought that since He hasn’t changed, that I can expect those same kinds of miraculous workings done in our past… in my future as well!

As far as I know, Philippians 4:19 where Paul wrote that, “my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (KJV) can still work for me today, tomorrow and forever.

I closed my morning Bible study with I Peter 5:6-7 where Peter encouraged his readers saying: “So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time.  Live carefree before God; (for) he is most careful with (& for) you.” (The Message)

So… that’s my Christmas 2019 prayer for you and me.  That we can be at peace and live with consistent joy as we trust HIM for our every need, be content with who we are in HIM and thereby live a carefree life… without worry or fear… as we trust in HIS ability and resources to care for us.

Have a blessed Christmas Eve, Eve, and as you do, take a moment or two to thank the Lord for His goodness and grace shown toward you this last year and then look with anticipation of His grace to come in the New Year!