A very merry Christmas to all of you catching up on your blogs today. My family spent the long celebratory weekend raking in the gifts–a tad excessive if you put them all together, but each grandparent was represented in the madness. There are four sets of grandparents, so imagine the excess. We enjoyed time together with all but one of them (we missed you, MawMaw). This morning the kids let us sleep til 8 before clamoring for presents and breakfast. This evening we spent with aunts, uncles, and cousins…more family fun.

For the past few weeks I’ve been enjoying an early me-to-me Christmas gift, Josh Groban’s Noel CD. You are hopefully hearing his rendition of Little Drummer Boy. This song in particular has influenced my thinking this Christmas season. Often, in the past, I considered this song one of those sweet little traditional tunes with little to no biblical import. But there was something in the power of Josh’s arrangement that brought the words and their significance to life.

I have often felt like the little drummer boy. Compared to so many others, I have nothing fit to give a king. Really, none of us has. The richest among us is dirt poor in His eyes. So what can we give to honor him?

It’s as if the boy has an epiphany. Wait, I can do something. It’s not much compared to what these others are bringing, but it’s what I have. And when I heard the powerful notes soar after Josh’s voice at this verse, I had an epiphany, too. Shall I write for you? Shall I love my children for you? Shall I serve my husband for you? Shall I teach for you? Shall I give you what I alone can give you?

When I’m engrossed in this song, worshipping God through it, this is the stanza that sometimes makes me weep. When the boy played his heart out, God smiled at him. That’s what I want. I want to live so that He’s smiling now, and so that he’ll smile when I enter heaven’s gates. I want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

This Christmas, I want to be like the little drummer boy. Do you? What will you give to honor him?