Friday, October 16, 2009

JAKE'S FIRST CHRISTMAS



Fall has arrived in the Susquehanna Valley. (Actually fall appears to be making only a brief stopover.) I am not enamored by Halloween, so I am mentally gearing up for the next holiday--Thanksgiving. That'll barely be over and we will start focusing on Christmas. (I know people who have already gotten a good part of their Christmas shopping finished. In fact, I used to be one of those people.)

Came across this photo in my personal collection. It is my grandson Jake and it comes from his first Christmas. Jake was born on Easter. And it was my joy to celebrate Christmas with him. The developing new life and his personality and his ability to show love in his own unique way-these were among the most precious of gifts to me. Of course, I lavished a lot of gifts on him. I am, after all, his grandfather.

I suspect I was more blessed by the giving than was Jake. It allowed me to express my love for him. Any time we rise above our self-centered sin nature to show our love--we are getting a whole lot closer to the character of the God who created us and redeemed us. Catholic theologian Karl Rahner says that our ability--our desire to love--is our reminder that we were created in the image of God. And John tells us that our ability our ability to love and our desire to love is possible because God first loved us--long before even recognized it.

No comments:

Post a Comment