Merry Christmas from the Crowd!

Last night, we went to my mom and dad’s house to celebrate Christmas.  Fortunately, they have a big house, because 25 people (ten of them under the age of 15) ate supper, opened presents, played with cousins, and generally made a pretty good racket there.  

(If only my sister Kim could have come home from New York, all 26 of us would have been raising a ruckus under one roof!)

At one point in the evening, I realized that no matter where I stood, I was in somebody’s way, and I joked that there was no place in the house where there wasn’t a crowd.  Mom’s response was that this family is a crowd.  (Completely true.)  Then I asked her if, 45 years ago, she ever would have believed it would come to this...and she indicated that she probably would have run off screaming!  (Completely understandable.) 

It’s a good thing we’ve all shown up a little at a time over the last 43 years!

But really…imagine if someone from the future had gone to my parents before they were married and had shown them a snapshot of what was to come:  that they would make three trips to the delivery room…that they would have 15 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren (so far!)…that they would have a family which had been blessed with four adoptions…

Good stuff, all!  But, admittedly, a little overwhelming if you were to get hit with the news all at once!

And that got me thinking…

How good is God that He only allows us to see as far as the next curve in the road?  Seriously…I can’t begin to guess how many times I have begged Him to tell me how everything was going to work out…what was going to become of this child or that one…where He’s going to take us from here…

But what a kindness that He only sheds light on a little piece of the picture at a time!

I think Mary would have agreed.  This is pure speculation on my part, but in my complete humanity, I can’t help but wonder if she would have paused for a beat longer before responding to Gabriel’s news if she could have seen even as far as the manger in Bethlehem.  (I’m going to have to make a long donkey-trip while nine months pregnant and have my baby WHERE?!)

And imagine if she could have seen as far as the cross.

So this Christmas Eve, I’m thinking about God’s greatest Gift.  And I’m also contemplating the gift of His sovereignty…and the great love He shows to me by revealing His plans for me (and my crowd of a family) one small step at a time.

Have a blessed Christmas!