The Little Things
Everyone has favorite ornaments for their tree. Some people love angel ornaments while others will delight in little elves or Santa ornaments. Our tree contains some ornaments from my own childhood, from Kelly’s childhood, and a few that my mother collected before I was born. But for our family, one of our favorite ornaments isn’t really about Christmas. It’s about memories. It’s about origins. We tend to love ornaments because of what they represent, but we also love them because of who gave them and why.
Daisy the Wonder Dog was a part of our family for most of our boys’ childhood. She was right in the middle of everything. She was constantly at my feet or playing in the yard, or jumping on the boys’ beds when thunderstorms rolled through. She was like our adopted kid, in many ways. She died a few years ago and every Christmas, we pull out the boxes of ornaments and we all pause when we find our “Daisy” ornament. It’s a treasure to us, just to us.
Luke’s Gospel gives us a window into Jesus’ birth that is more detailed and vivid than any other. Little things that might have gone unnoticed, small details that might not seem as significant to another writer became part of Luke’s account. It’s obvious that Luke talked to Mary. The signature of Mary comes in Luke 2:51–“And his mother stored all these things in her heart.” They were significant to Mary, so she shared those with Luke when he was recording his Gospel account.
The little things about Christmas always seem to be the source of our greatest blessings. A single conversation, a simple but meaningful gift, a song that resonates, an act of hospitality, a memory that the entire family laughs about–these are the parts of the Christmas season that I love. Every year I ask God to show me something fresh that I can share with my church family, but that first, I can savor personally. It’s always a little thing, a small detail. And I find that for those weeks, I, like Mary, am storing these things in my heart. I only see them because I’m looking for them!
Will you look for the little things that touch you in a big way?
