We all gave Jesus a present this year..

Christmas is so funny. It's Jesus birthday, but he doesn't get any gifts. I decided that our family would give him something this Christmas. Joel gave him and acronym, Adam gave him a card trick and a magic coin trick, Noah gave him a song, Zoe gave him a book that she wrote, and Ranen gave him the letter "H" written over and over on a piece of paper... her favorite letter. And I gave him a picture and a poem.

Here it is:


One thing
        I used to do
is write poems
on the spur of thought
    no time to stop
     fix
    change
    rearrange
Just ... go!
let words, thoughts out
    in a steady flow
and while that makes me
     feel
  vulnerable
I think that is
    exactly
            my goal.

Merry Christmas Jesus
Seems
silly to say
     Yet every year
         what we really do
    is
celebrate your
     BIRTH-day
   another year
365 days of stories
.... more
       to come
I know you more today
than I did last year-
             this time
   And I believe
More of me
   is open to be known
interrupted, accepted, invested in
by You.
I love the story
of the star up high
Angels singing
shepherds leading the way to worshiping
... about a mom
and a dad
and the baby they had.

A baby.
You are not afraid to do
strange
   impossible
       the improbable
               impractical
the unprecedented.

My family -
we seem
    to wander
   chasing stars
sights, stories
  our silent nights are not
so sweet
and our heavenly peace
sometimes
most times
a faint recollection

So I say
    see us here
a mom
     a dad
the children we've had
and do like you did with Jesus
take us from where we pray
where our hearts are tired and frayed
broken at the end of each day
        re-make us
             miraculous
when people look at us
let it be
that they can believe
anything.

I cried when I read it to the family. There we were. Ready to open gifts. Broken from a week of the difficulty of waiting. Screaming. Hours of tantrums. The asking. Demanding. Threatening. I think when things are rough, hope is a must. Otherwise all the possibilities will bury me with their threats and fear. A friend texted me today. Choose hope for this year. And I will.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.  

Comments

Unknown said…
Beautifully written. I love the rhythm. Yes choose hope and love and joy. Blessings to you Heidi and family.
2:47 AM
gramma blue said…
through the wringer, but clean, hung to dry, enduring a pressing to be presentable. Yes, the 'thrill of hope', a weary soul rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn... I fall on my knees
5:25 AM
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