it's so nice to be needed.....

The other day I received a rather ominous email from my vice-principal. The subject line read "IMPORTANT," and this is what followed:

Kelly,

Your Edline pages are great, however I am very disappointed with another more important issue. It has come to my attention by several staff members and one parent that you have not updated your Kate Blog with current pictures and pertinent information in regard to her social/academic progress. I have many responsibilities at JCS and hearing complaints from the people that love and support our school, namely Mrs. Gardinier and Mrs. Robertson, that they do not have a most updated blog entry from you and Stephen is very disheartening. Please update as soon as you can and let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

Lisa

Considering that I have now placed my job, and more importantly, several friendships, in serious jeopardy, I feel that my most sincerest apologies are in order. Lisa, Jamie, Kendal, and other faithful Burp Cloth fans, I beg your forgiveness. In all of the holiday hustle and bustle, I have indeed neglected my blog responsibilities. I understand that you depend on us crazy mammas and our fanatical blogs to provide you with a bit of respite in the midst of your busy workday, and I promise to do better. And in spite of the scathing email, I must admit, it makes a girl feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that others out there look forward to her blog updates. It's so nice to be loved.

And since it is Christmas, after all, I thought I'd take just a quick minute to think out loud about the magnitude of this holiday, this holy day. I was watching Kate play in the living room the other day. She was picking up little nick-knacks and bringing them to me with the cutest, cheesiest grin. If you know Kate, you know the grin I'm talking about. She was so content, so happy to be here, anywhere. And I wondered while I watched her what Jesus might have been like as a baby, with all of the fullness of God's power and goodness and grace and mercy wrapped up in that tiny little body. What did this great big world look like through his eyes? Did he, like Kate, clap when he met new faces? Was he anxious to get down from his mother's lap and explore this world and all of its nooks and crannies? Did he rummage through drawers? Pull out pots and pans? Did he cling to his mom's leg as she tried to get dinner on the table? It seems strange...God living, playing, laughing, growing up among us, wrapping himself in humanity so that he might rescue us.

I understand the skeptic. It all seems too good, too beautiful, too extravagant to be true. But what if it is? What if there is a God so provocative, so radical, so selfless and full of love, that he gave up heaven to walk in our shoes, to know our hurts, our hopes, our good days and our bad? God...in the flesh...with us. It's quite a leap, I know.

So why do I choose to believe? I'm going to have to borrow words for this one. Dostoyevksy said, "If someone proved to me that Christ is outside the truth and that in reality the truth were outside of Christ, then I should prefer to remain with Christ rather than with the truth.”

I believe because my belief makes me a part of the most beautiful story I've ever known. It may sound simple, but, in the end, faith usually is.

Merry Christmas!