Last year, I took my sweet two year old girl shopping with me for Christmas decorations. What we got was more than we expected. We were in the middle of the chaos of people rushing and grabbing and fussing and doing just about anything to get their hands on the last great deal.
As we made our way down an overly crowded isle, with madness all around, I found myself singing “Jesus Loves Me.”
So, here’s the deal. I sing a lot. I don’t have the greatest voice, but I often notice that I’m singing little tunes to myself throughout the day.
This wasn’t to myself.
In the middle of a busy store, I was singing quite loudly, “Jesus Loves Me.” My daughter started singing with me.
People were seriously pushing each other out of the way to get to the things they wanted and here we were strolling down the isle just belting out together… “Little ones to HIM belong. They are weak but HE is strong! YES! Jesus loves ME!”
Do you know what happened?
People started singing with us. There in the middle of the department store, we rewrote the story of that moment, because that’s the product of praise. Praise doesn’t just change our own hearts. It changes the atmosphere around us. The attitudes of everyone we walked by shifted. It was as if people remembered themselves. It was like they remembered why they were grabbing for that last roll of blue chevron wrapping paper. Some even continued to sing as we walked away.
The world is so close to the truth of salvation at Christmas. The world wants to believe that there is something sacred about the birth of Jesus… if we could only use the opportunity to lead them the rest of the way towards redemption.
With a million reminders not to miss Christ in the business of Christmas, here is one more.
May the presence of Jesus fill your hearts with hope. May the peace of our Savior carry you through the season with the sweetness of His love. May the joy of the Lord shine through every encounter drawing others into the love that is available to them as well.
Hope has come to the world, and He lives in us. Let us lift the Light of Salvation a little higher this Christmas season.
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