Last night I laid down on the floor to look up through the
branches of the Christmas tree. As a young child it was quite the magical thing
to do.
Tonight? Nah. It was pretty, but not magical. We have a beautiful, pre-lit tree with tiny colorful
lights, but not the large bright bulbs of yesteryear.
Eons ago, in my pretty little head, perhaps I longed to
believe for magical suspension of existence in my fear shrouded little life, a
longing for peace. Maybe in a home of six rambunctious children I sought a
magical quiet. Maybe I pondered the awe of growing up splashed all over the
reality of childhood.
I probably made up my own magical stories – as I’ve continued
to do for decades since.
Whatever thoughts danced through my mind were thoughts that
left me inspired and smiling.
The tantalizing starlight bursts from a million colorful
Christmas bulbs and the grin from the jolly stuffed Santa perched up in the
branches of a pine tree whose scent I’ll never forget made an indelible memory,
kept safe in the recesses of my mind. It awakens every Christmas season.
The memory is there, but the magic is gone. Replaced by
adulthood with its many responsibilities, magic seems a distant possibility.
Yet, I read of my King – Who calls the things that are not as thought they are! (Romans
4:17 – “…in the presence of the God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the
dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” ESV – or as the
good ol’ King James phrases it: “…God, who quickens the dead, and calleth those
things which be not as though they were.”)
I also read that the unseen is greater than what I can see
with my eyes. (2 Corinthians 4:18 – “…the things which are seen are
temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”)
This speaks to me of wonder more magnificent than magic.
1 Corinthians 13:12 tells us, “For now we see through a
glass, darkly’ but then face to face: now I know in part; but I then shall I
know even as also I am known.”
Just as a child (and most adults) don’t understand magic and
how magic tricks are performed, we who are made righteous by the sacrifice of
Jesus don’t yet understand the things of God like we will when we stand before
Him face to face.
As a child, I gazed up into a magical looking Christmas tree.
Now, as a Child of God – I gaze into His Word and behold the
wonder of the Christ behind our Christmas celebrations. As I read His Word, I
grow to know Him better, but the best is yet to come!
“But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared
for them that love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
