I buckled Gracie & Noah up to leave for the store today & just as we were pulling out, Noah set his little eyes on the Bible that happened to have been left in the car.
"Hey Mommy, can I read that big Bible?" I passed it back to him & quickly turned off the radio to settle in & "listen" to Noah's story. You see, he's really a great little "storyteller." Moms, if you have one in your family, you know what I'm talking about, it's like you can't wait for them to get on a roll with telling some story, it's just so fun to listen to!
O.K., some of his stories are true, and some, well, full of let's say, "creativity," but he does have a great imagination & he sure speaks with a lot of "power" in his stories, there's always a lot of "action" & he gets this big, deep voice going, it's quite entertaining to say the least. (:
Many times, I've listened to him when he doesn't know I'm listening, he talks away as he flips through the pages, often like he's preaching some great sermon to hundreds listening, real everyday life experiences mixed in with Bible stories he's heard and brief Superhero dramatic segments brought in as well, strung together with his own 2 - 3 yr. old big view of a big God - you know - kind of like, "David picked up that huge, giant lightsaber to go & get Goliath and he said, I have the sword of the Spirit, BOOM! And then he went home to his mommy cause he wanted to get his snack," etc..., well, you get the idea...
Noah opened the Bible, and it went something like this (from the best of my memory, but you really had to have been there, so hard to duplicate these kind of things!):
"And then God sent His Son to the world, and He was this little baby, and he was born in the stable, that's where the animals live, but it wasn't a farm, it was just where the animals live. And there was this little manger and there was a sheep there too.
And the angels said to all the shepherds 'Don't be afraid! Cause God is here! So don't be afraid anymore, O.K.?!' And there was alot, alot of angels cause they had been in this cave and then God came & punched the door down so it opened up the gate and all the angels came out. (O.K., he's only 3, a little imagination thrown in there & maybe thinking about Jesus in the cave, who knows!?)
And then all the shepherds said, 'No more monkeys jumping on the bed!' (I know, I know, that's what I said, HUH???) (:
So then, these guys came to see Jesus cause he was a little baby & they brought him a bunch of presents, and there was this big giant choo-choo train that they brought him, no wait, they brought that for me. But they brought Jesus some presents too.
And then it started raining so you had to get your raincoat & your umbrella cause that keeps the rain off. But God put a rainbow in the sky & it had all these different colors, like blue & red & purple.
And then God knocked down all the bad guys cause He is really strong and He got Goliath. (Yes, there's always a lot of "action" & battle in his stories, maybe we've told the David & Goliath story too many times???)
And then they all said "Yea God! Jesus is ALIVE! God is AMAAAAZINNNGGGG!!!!"
So that's the story of Christmas, it's about God loved us & sent His Son, and He was a little baby."
Noah finished up his story with a brief & LOUD rendition of the theme song from Indiana Jones. "Da Dadadum...dadadummmmm...Da Dadadum...dadadadadummmm!!!!" etc, you get the idea...
No, he hasn't seen the movie, only the Lego characters, but for some reason he has this fascination with "Indy" and thinks every story must have that same "sound" of adventure to make it a really "good" story. (:
As his little story ended, I feel like God gently reminded me again, "Keep life simple Debbie, celebrate the things that are most important."
I found I wasn't "racing" to get to the store anymore...I found that our often "grueling" grocery shopping trip wasn't "drudgery" in my mind anymore, it was well, actually kind of "enjoyable," if you can believe that.
I soaked in the moment of having them sitting there, right in front of me - secure in the blue race car shopping cart, both thinking they were individually helping me to maneveur around the entire store, still not able to keep their hands to themselves, wanting to snack on everything in the cart & stop at every snack station, little mouths & pudgy hands covered in cheetoes & whatever else I had opened up already.
That's what LIFE is all about, isn't it? Celebrating what's MOST important. It's about "God loved us and sent His Son..." Thanks my sweet Noah for that reminder today. All of a sudden, my list of "things to do" didn't seem so incredibly "important" anymore, and other things seemed, well, much MORE important to me.
Christmas through the eyes of a 3 year old. If even they can "get it," see the real meaning, why do we have so much trouble? How do the most "important" things to celebrate get so easily buried in the urgent busyness and stress of our lives?
Keep it simple...love life...celebrate what's most important...God loved us...He sent JESUS.
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