On Faith and Family: With eager anticipation
–Isn’t it crazy how quickly this year has flown by? Summer is almost behind us, the kids are heading back to school, and it won’t be long before the holidays are upon us!
Although still several months away, my boys are particularly excited about Christmas this year. Not only because they are three and four and like most kids their age, they live for Christmas, but also because we are expecting another little package named Emma-grace around that time. The boys are elated about having a baby sister and have literally been counting down the days until Christmas since we found out we were pregnant. If I’m honest, I have been too!
As you can imagine, with all the talk of Christmas and baby, there have been a lot of discussions on what life will be like with another person added to the family. In particular, we have been discussing sharing and what it means to think of others before ourselves. We’ve talked about how when baby gets bigger, they will need to share their toys and think of little sister first. One afternoon in particular, my son Grant crawled up on my lap. I could tell something heavy was weighing on his mind.
“Hey mom, I got an idea,” he said, very seriously.
“What’s your idea?” I asked.
“Well,” he said, “I’ve been thinking a lot about what to get Emma for Christmas and I think I know just what she would like.”
Intrigued, I leaned forward and gave my little boy my full attention. “What is it?” I asked. Grant licked his little lips, eyes wide with anticipation of my reaction.
“Well, I think she would really, really like an Iron Man toy, and a Spiderman toy and some gummy bears,” he replied. My husband and I giggled about this all afternoon. Oh how kids can remind us of all the things we need to be focused in on!
With eager anticipation, like a child waiting for Christmas, we should excitedly wait for the Lord’s return! And while we wait? Well, perhaps we could all do a little better thinking of others above ourselves. I know I can certainly learn that lesson myself!
God bless you all!
