In The Bleak Midwinter

First, scroll down to the bottom and stop the music :)

James Taylor's Christmas cd is one of my favorites. I had never heard the song, In The Bleak Midwinter before listening to his cd. Although I have had this cd for awhile, this is the first year that I really LISTENED to the words of this song.

As I grow older, I continually search to find the deeper meaning in Christmas. The "magic" of Santa and presents lost it's appeal long ago and with it some of that feeling disappeared too. Honestly, I am thankful that all those things are fading; Christmas has so much to offer then the superficial spark that our culture tends to focus on. Now a days, I simply want to bask in the fact that Christ came down to this earth, to be born to a virgin, with the simple purpose of saving us... with his own life. I feel so deeply the weight of that action and just as this song says.... "I must give my heart". I have nothing, nothing else of value to give him. The thing that is so beautiful is my heart is all he wants. There is nothing on this earth that is as precious to our Savior than our hearts. So, this Christmas, I am laying it before him. My WHOLE heart, all of it.

My prayer is that my children realize the weight of that action. I am striving to create a Christmas in our home that is not centered around stuff. I feel that it will be no easy task when everything around us at Christmas screams superficial. It will probably take us a couple of years to really hammer it out. I have no problem with Santa being apart of Christmas and the kids receiving gifts, I just want it to be a cherry on top or a nice after thought. If anybody has any good suggestions, please let me know :)

Merry Christmas