It’s Christmas Eve … What are your plans? The question of where I will be and who I will be with comprise the top questions of the week.   Practically every conversation that I’ve found myself drawn into, leading up this day, has either started with these questions or inevitably concluded with the whole topic of place and company.

In other words, these standard holiday salutation and inquiries point to a deeper revelation of our belonging and value.  That is why the Christmas season is one of the busiest time of the year.  We are all trying to find our place at a table and an invitation to be somewhere.

In the most silent of nights, our hearts long to be someone and experience home. 

This Christmas Eve, I wonder at the story of God. Why He arrived during an annoying government census, that moved new parents away from home. How He chose to give the good news first to shepherds who called cold, dark fields their home.

God’s plan for His first Christmas Eve is not (at all) what we might have planned for ourselves.    He chose to come this way, to bring us back to Him.

It spells H-O-M-E-C-O-M-I-N-G for you and me.
We are someone special because we are with Him tonight.

(Sigh) I wish we all lived close enough and had an extra hour appear somewhere.  I’d invite you over, to share a Christmas fave this evening.  Makes me smile thinking about it.  It’s nothing fancy.  But, baking them infuses the house with a sweet fragrance that makes this place feel like home.  In sharing something simple, we can be together.

In lieu of being in person, I send you a sampling of Christmas cookies present and past to wish you a very Merry Christmas …

Christmas Eve — Just For Us

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.” Matthew 1:23

However Christmas finds us, we know God has us;

In the palm of His Hands, we all belong;

Quietly, silently, Christmas arrives — for each of us —

Making His Home in us, no matter what shape we are in…

Hurting…

Happy…

Busy…

Content…

In Progress…

We are all made from scratch… to belong… to be valued… by Him.