Beautiful One.

"Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful for words." 2 Corinthians 9:15
On Sunday night, my boyfriend David, a few other couples, and I went to San Francisco for his companies' Christmas ball. It took over an hour from my house to get to the city and another 30+ minutes just to find parking in the pedestrian crazed city. We knew the exact parking garage we wanted to get to, but with all of the traffic and one way streets we couldn't seem to get there. We ended up parking a couple of blocks away from where we needed to be, which was fine--except for the fact that once we got out of the car and started walking we were so confused on where we were, we started walking the complete opposite direction to where we actually needed to be!

This doesn't seem like a huge deal--and to most people it wouldn't be, but to me, on this night, I was frustrated and the whole situation had gotten the best of me. I mean just picture me walking in heels and a dress, in a windy city surrounded by strangers, praying that my hair doesn't go flat! To be quite honest, I was getting ticked that I couldn't figure out where we needed to go--I'm normally so direction savvy! We finally found our way to Union Square when one of the other couples wanted to stop and take a picture in front of the famous SF Christmas tree that was decorated beautifully (this of course only added to my mood--as I wanted to get to where we were going and out of the cold!). As we stopped to take a picture, to the left of us was a larger crowd than normal, and a big group of kids on a stage of cement stairs. The kids were dressed in Santa hats and jackets and we simply thought, "How cute! They are going to sing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (and all of those other "holiday jingles" that leave Christmas and Jesus out of the lyrics)."

We were wrong however. As I took an antsy deep breath to calm myself down from the chaos of what was going on around me, the kids started to sing. It was no song about checkin' it twice or jingling bells, but what they sang changed my heart and re-focused me for the night. They began..."Wonderful, so Wonderful, is your unfailing love. Your cross has spoken mercy over me. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, No heart could fully know, How Glorious, How beautiful you are."
(see full lyrics here: http://www.christianlyricsonline.com/artists/jeremy-camp/beautiful-one.html)

Thanks to those kids and one of those God moments, I realized the real reason for the season. We weren't going to this work party to celebrate holiday bonuses or free giveaways (and not to mention an outstanding dessert bar), but instead because we are blessed that God has provided people with jobs so that they can provide for their families. We were there to celebrate the love of friends, the laughter of loved ones, and more importantly the joy of Jesus' birth. I'm so thankful that those joyful children were in the hustle and bustle of Union Square praising the Lord. I'm even more thankful that God sent his one and only son for you and me, so that we can have everlasting life in Him. Let's not be so focused this week on getting our Christmas gifts and other Christmas errands completed on our timeline--you may miss how beautiful and wonderful He really is. Breath in, look around, and you'll see Him right there in front of you...with all of the wonderful gifts He provides daily.