look up

when i was little i thought there was something magical about the christmas tree.
and i still remember deciding that what i wanted more than anything
was to be able to sleep underneath it
with all the lights on
and the nativity scene behind me

my parents realized that this was a true desire
and eventually they allowed me to spend ONE NIGHT every year under the tree

it was a night i always looked forward to
i think it was looking up in the lights and branches that enthralled me
that seemingly endless beauty
that lifted up, to where my young eyes could barely catch a glimpse of the angel

it was looking up
that was my favorite part

and as i look at my tree
sitting by a seemingly unfamiliar window
a window that isn't "mine" really

i'm captured again by the lights
the beauty
the simplicity
and i'm reminded
to look UP

in this season of the year, it's important
and in this season of my life...
well, it's vital.


(...peace on earth...)

...when...

when i have a little girl

i shall build her a dollhouse

not a plastic pink barbie shack

but a real, wooden, quality house

with stairs

because it never made sense to me

how dollhouses could have so many floors with no way to get up and down them.

and when i have a little boy

i'll build him a train track

with interconnecting railroads

and streets going through it all

so that he can play to his heart's content

with trains and cars

(and so can i)

and i'll go fishing with them

(and make their daddy bait the hook)

and my little girl will climb trees

and my little boy will learn to nurture baby dolls

and we'll camp in the living room

and have picnics in the playroom

there will be dancing and singing

swimming and sports

taking them to ball games

and concerts

and church

that's what i'll do with my children...

what about you?

Amen

Yesterday morning I was leading worship at my church, as I do regularly on the "3rd Sunday" praise team.

It was a powerful worship, and we ended it with the song God of This City. You may know it (I'll include a youtube video and lyrics at the end of this post if you don't). It ends on a powerful crescendo of "greater things are yet to come; greater things are still to be done in this city" followed by the softer yet powerful truth of "there is no one like our God...there is no one like our God"

In an acapella setting, the voices linger and resonate throughout the sanctuary for a few moments after the last note is cut off. As we basked in that moment a small child's voice, no older than 3, echoed through the auditorium:

"Amen!"

Amen indeed. There is NO ONE like our God! If the smallest of children can feel that so powerfully in her soul...who am I to question?

And yet sometimes I do.

Help me to be like a child on her Father's knee...
to grasp the most awesome and complex of truths
in the simplest of ways.

AMEN




(lyrics are included on the video--and it is the original version from Ireland so they are slightly different, so it's definitely worth a listen)

*God of This City was written by a worship band from Ireland (possibly why it's so close to my heart!) on a missions trip to Thailand. They set up the band in a brothel and sang worship songs right in the heart of the sex trade district...and this song came to them than night as they witnessed the brokenness that surrounded them--that the God they were worshiping was STILL the 'God of these people' and the 'Lord of this nation'
Makes it all the more powerful to know the story...*