December 2008

Karsten and I first decorated the Christmas tree together when he was just six months old. I told him the meaning of each ornament as we hung it on the tree. Jonah’s whale. Abraham and Isaac’s ram. The lion and the lamb. The wisemen’s camel. The kitten in the bag…because God has a sense of humor. The angels who announced Christ’s birth. The star that led the magi to the baby king.

I know my boy did not understand what I was telling him, but it was good for my Christmas spirit. And it was good practice. Each Christmas since, I have told my son the meaning of the symbols and the story.

This year, Karsten is three-and-a-half years old and his little sister, Annika Noel, is six months. Again, I will prepare their hearts and mine while we decorate the tree. Karsten gets to help this year, and I will try not to rearrange his decorating…at least, not much.

Daniel and I long for our children to know Jesus, the Son of God. However, we don’t want them to just know Him as the baby in the manger, or even the storyteller and maker of miracles. We want them to know Him as the Redeemer and the God of the Universe.

Karsten is sorting out some of this on his own. We were talking about Jesus the other day as we drove through the snow and he said, “His name is Jesus but we can call him God.”

I love listening to Karsten and Daniel’s bedtime routine. PJs. Toothbrushing. A story, prayers, then snuggling. Often they read a couple of Bible stories from Karsten’s Bible. He has his favorites: Noah and the ark, David and Goliath, Jonah and the big fish, Mary and the angel. It is a special night if I get to hear Karsten’s prayer, even if it’s second hand. Sometimes the things he prays for take my breath away.

I pray more than ever these days. Many nights, before I climb into my own bed, I kneel beside my children’s beds and pray for them. I plead with God to make Himself known to them, to give me wisdom in how I reveal Christ in the way I live my life, to forgive me for all the ways I fall short, for teachable moments to make God real for them.

We are amazed at our children’s uniqueness. Karsten is our dramatist – creative, outgoing, funny, sensitive, observant, articulate. He is also a motorhead like his daddy, which I love. He enjoys burying himself in a role: monster, pirate, kitty… He loves to race and will wear himself out on the circuit of living room, dining room, hallway, bedroom, and round again. Karsten is also very inquisitive. Lately, his bedtime routine has included asking his daddy about how things work. Teachable moments.

Annika Noel is like sunshine to us. She has inspired a new degree of tenderness in her daddy, her big brother and me. We delight in her frequent laughter, feel contentment in her ready smiles, rush to comfort her tears, and cover her cheeks, hands and toes in kisses. This precocious little girl has even said her first word: “Mamamamama.” I had hoped it would be “Dada”, but Daniel is content with her ear-to-ear smile and exuberant wiggles when she sees him and her eagerness to snuggle.

As I watch my children with Daniel, I see tangible expressions of God’s love. They will know grace and guidance, love and wisdom first from their daddy (and me), then someday – by the grace of God – from God Himself. While there is only one incarnate Son of God, we can be reflections of Christ.

That is the gift I want to give my children this Christmas. A reflection of Christ that is more vivid than the ornaments, more brilliant than the lights, more lasting than the gifts under the tree. For His glory and for their good.