Christmas Presence

It's only the 24th of December and we have logged 4 Christmas celebrations.

What a busy couple days.

Too many cookies.

More food than we could ever eat.

Mounds of wrapping paper and empty boxes.

Hearts wrapped in love.

We celebrated with our kids this morning before The Farmer headed off for the tractor store where he had to work a few hours.

I burned miles of wrapping paper and cleaned up the house while the kids played with their new treasures, sat at their new desks snuggled up in their new jammies.

New.

All things new.

This life.

It isn't wrapped in shiny paper or topped with a pretty bow

For most-all if you're honest- it can be, at, times messy.

We can pretend it isn't.

We can tell people about every perfect little detail and all the shiny things.

We can cover our broken bits. 

For awhile anyways.

At the heart of things Jesus sees us and loves us for who we are.

Fully.

Broken bits and all.

He doesn't care if we are chasing him or running from Him.

The moment we turn to Him He embraces us

fully

Clothing us in 

Love, grace and forgiveness.

All things new.

Today while burning I realized our only REAL problem is that we have 

too many people that

love us.

No seriously that is our biggest problem.

By days end tomorrow we will have logged 5 Christmas celebrations.

5 different families want to spend a few hours a day loving us.

I complain about this.

Not about the love, but about the running from here to there so people can

 LOVE US.

There are people today cloaked in sadness, alone, far from families. 

Their are mommies and daddies laying their heads onto a cot in the middle of the desert defending our country far far from the tender little hearts praying for their safe return.Their are people hoping, praying and wishing to love and be loved and I complain about too many people that want to spend time with us.

The nerve.

So as I sit here with my entire family safe and warm, rain pounding on our roof I am humbled and in awe of the one who tapped my shoulder this morning and whispered a simple reminder 

that even in my own mire, bad attitude, broken bit filled self that

I am blessed by the one who

makes all things new

and it isn't by 

presents, but by presence.

Blessed is me...