If you’re like me, one of your favorite things about the season of Christmas is to see the awe and wonder in the faces of children. Children find this season magical whether it’s looking at a neighborhood full of Christmas lights, watching “The Polar Express” or other holiday movie, sitting on Santa’s lap, and of course finding a bevy of gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. I’m sure the shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem experienced a unique sense of wonder at the very first Christmas. After all an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to them after the birth of Jesus to declare “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).
Where is your sense of wonder this Christmas? Do you have one? Or has it been extinguished by your mind-numbing list of things to do – shopping to finish, cards to write, decorations to unpack, travel to plan, and cookies to bake? I want to encourage you to see Christmas this year through the eyes of a child – and through the eyes of those shepherds who heard this amazing proclamation from an angel over 2,000 years ago. Our sense of wonder comes not from lights or presents or Hollywood movies. Instead we realize with awe and wonder that the creator of this entire world sent His only son to Earth to be born a baby and live a perfect life and then die and rise again just for you and me. The story of the shepherds in Luke 2 ends with them “glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard as it had been told to them” (verse 20.) As you prepare to celebrate Christmas I encourage you to do the same – tell this wonderful story with words of joy and praise to everyone you meet in the days ahead. Let them see and hear your sense of wonder. Merry Christmas!