A Merry Christmas Prayer

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

When I was small, 

I loved that you came as a small child, 

to be a person like me. 

The idea that God would come to earth 

the same way I did 

and experience 

fear of the dark, 

scraped knees, 

splashy puddles, 

and the marvel of a butterfly's wings 

made me happy.

You discovered what it was like

to love and be loved,

to laugh and to sing,

to care and to embrace

in the very same way that I did.

And now that I'm older,

I understand that you know
joy and enjoyment, 

heartache and heartbreak 

not only from living your own life,

but because you continue to live

in the hearts of each one of us.

Thank you, Emmanuel,

God-with-us,

God-always-with-us!

Show us,

in every situation

what it is that you would have us do,

to act justly,

love tenderly, 

and walk simply and humbly on your beautiful earth,

today,

tomorrow,

and always.

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

AMEN

***

For those who have asked, here's the link to Monica's Epiphany, a special Christmas story written for a writer's club of two... And for those faithful readers who already know that story from years past, here's a really neat version of Silent Night (thanks to my sister for sharing it!) For the record, I'm not a country music fan, but this one has grown on me -- neat orchestration, and I've always been a sucker for countermelodies/descants. There seems to be some animosity between EMI and blogger that doesn't allow it to play here in the usual way, so click the Play arrow, and then click where it says Watch on YouTube. Merry Christmas!