Stay with me here! A lot of people wouldn’t want to put Santa in a devotion because they think it leaves Jesus out. Make no mistake, I will never leave Jesus out of Christmas! I couldn’t if I tried. But Santa is not a bad guy. Think of the wonder of children waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. Can you just remember what it was like to go to bed and to think of that cool guy who left you gifts under the tree that you would wake up to the next morning. Even when I was a child and I wasn’t sure about believing in Santa anymore, I bad wanted to BELIEVE in Santa. As an adult I know now that what I loved about Santa was the wonder and the giving that it all represented. Of course the gifts weren’t bad either.
My parents did a great job with Santa. I can remember going to bed early on Christmas Eve and we had a time set that we had to wait for the clock to reach before we could wake our parents up to go in and see what Santa brought. Oh it was so hard to go to sleep and then we almost never slept more than 3 or 4 hours. I am the youngest so looking back, my sisters were probably pretty good sports for the lack of sleep for me too. But when I think of the anticipation and the excitement that I felt on Christmas morning every year it just makes me smile deep inside my soul!
I never want to lose that deep in my soul smile, like a kid on Christmas morning when it comes to Christmas. But as a grown up what really gives me that deep in my soul smile, like a kid on Christmas morning is the love deep in my heart for Jesus. You see when you have Jesus deep in your soul, even when life is hard or the situation is hard, or the year is hard your soul can still be smiling deep down like a kid on Christmas morning. It doesn’t always mean the circumstances are going to be different tomorrow but it means that you know the one who is going to see you through all of your tomorrows. So smile when you see Santa Claus. Let the kids have Santa because maybe someday, one day when they hide Jesus in their heart they will know that Santa was making the way for Him all along so that their little hearts would already know that deep soul smile.
“But Jesus called them to him, saying, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.’” Luke 18:16
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