Delight.

One of my favorite things about teaching kindergarten is watching kids play with purpose. When the new imaginative play center opens up, they are moving and bustling to do the tasks in front of them like it's their real jobs. The wooden banana bread isn't going to bake itself- the velcro butter slices need to be mixed in with the pretend eggs in the plastic mixer at level 5 (as the recipe card says, of course). How else will the nativity ornaments get on the tree? Who else is going to tell the stuffed animals the good news about baby Jesus? All of a sudden, I feel invited into a new perspective. The one where I picture an all-knowing God looking down on our earth watching His people hustle and bustle to worry about things that are fleeting and out of their control anyways. Yet He isn't disgruntled or frustrated. Rather he finds delight in our "play". Delight in our purpose and enthused attempts to bring meaning to our days. Because like the little people in my classroom who are so adorably reflecting the big people they closely watch, we are reflecting Someone bigger too.

I'm humbled in this season of advent to be a tiny part of the bigger story God is writing. I'm humbled that even when I break the hand off the nativity scene Mary or knock the figurative 2 ft Christmas tree off the table in my life, God isn't upset in the face of my clumsiness as I seek to do what He has set before me. He invites me in over and over again- even though He could do it better without me. Jesus already did all of the work so I could be free to live and dance and sing and work with purpose for His glory. And if I'm delighted to watch my little kindergarten tribe scuffle around the pretend play corner as they pretend to be grown people celebrating Christmas, how much more does the Father take delight in our efforts to bring His Kingdom down to our earth?

Happy Advent, Friends. Happy Christmas, Dear ones!