Day 28: Touched By A Baby

I remember as soon as she saw me,

she greeted me with a hug and a smile

that came from deep within her HEART.

Then she handed me a picture she had colored just for me.

A turkey.

I will never look at a turkey the same way again.

As we waited for our food,

we made paper boats out of napkins.

Then somehow the napkins turned into butterflies.

Then came rock, paper, scissors.

A turkey.

A paper boat.

A butterfly.

A CHILD.

And a simple night that became tattooed on my HEART.

Because the LOVE of a CHILD is so REAL and so DEEP

that it can overwhelm your HEART.

It was just a simple dinner,

one I hardly ate,

because I was too busy living in the moment,

playing like a CHILD with a CHILD.

And I realized I don't need much.

Just LOVE.

Then she told me something else.

She had been allowed to choose one thing

from all the CHRISTMAS decorations,

and she said that I was going

to be really happy when I heard what she chose.

She chose

"JESUS' HOUSE."

In other words,

THE NATIVITY.

Her smile pierced my heart.

She looked straight into my eyes and told me

how much she LOVED it.

It was the NATIVITY I had given her when she was born.

Then she told me that she had put

Mary and Joseph into one of the cars of her brother's train set,

and they got stuck.

And she giggled.

And giggled.

And I cried.

Just as tears fill my eyes remembering it now.

I don't need much.

Give me a turkey, a paper boat, a butterfly,

and a little girl playing with

THE NATIVITY.

Because when my granddaughter

said JESUS and her eyes lit up,

what else needed to be said?

No wonder my HEART was on fire that night.

The LOVE of a CHILD

was reflecting

THE LOVE OF JESUS,

whether she realized it or not.

And now,

in the middle of July,

I think about that CHRISTMAS memory and realize that

CHRISTMAS NEVER LEFT.

The decorations were eventually packed away.

The NATIVITY was put away.

The lights came down.

The CHRISTMAS tree disappeared.

But JESUS DIDN'T.

And neither did HIS LOVE.

That is why we can celebrate

CHRISTMAS IN JULY.

Because CHRISTMAS was never really about the decorations.

CHRISTMAS is about JESUS.

So what is LOVE?

Look closely

at the

LITTLE BABY

lying in the manger.

There is LOVE.

Not simply a character in a CHRISTMAS play.

Not simply a Baby we remember monce a year.

But GOD'S LOVE coming near to you and me.

If THE BABY JESUS

could speak from the manger,

perhaps our hearts would hear:

"I came because I LOVE you.

Will you receive MY LOVE?"

Oh,

to have

a

CHRISTMAS OF THE HEART.

Maybe that is why JESUS pointed us toward

the

FAITH OF A CHILD~

"Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position

of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."(Matthew 18:3–4).

To have

FAITH LIKE A CHILD

is life-changing, because

JESUS is our LIFE CHANGER.

A child doesn't need to understand everything before receiving LOVE.

She simply opens her arms and receives it.

Maybe we make it too complicated.

JESUS came to LOVE.

JESUS came because GOD so LOVED.

And JESUS came for YOU.

Not because you earned HIM.

Not because you deserved HIM.

But because

HE IS THE GIFT.

The

GIFT OF GRACE

that no wrapped present could ever compare to.

That is

a

CHRISTMAS OF THE HEART.

A BORN AGAIN HEART that finally receives

a LOVE so deep,

so REAL,

so UNCONDITIONAL,

that you no longer have to wonder~

"Am I LOVED?"

You are.

So be like a CHILD.

Open your hands. Open your heart.

And simply

let

JESUS LOVE YOU.

Because you don't have to wait for December.

You don't need CHRISTMAS lights.

You don't need a decorated tree.

You don't even need the NATIVITY sitting on the table.

You can have

a

CHRISTMAS OF THE HEART

right now, in the middle of July.

Because

JESUS IS HERE.

HIS LOVE

never gets packed away.

JESUS IS HEAVEN'S LOVE

coming down to earth.

And that same LOVE

can still be found wherever

you are.

Because...

"CHRISTMAS IS ALL IN THE HEART"

(Listen to "Christmas Is All in the Heart" below.)