I’m leading an Advent group with a friend, and I decided to post my Advent reflections to my blog. Enjoy this Christmas season!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My kids are 10 and almost 7. On top of just being older, they’re big! My husband is 6’4″. My kids were born long and were both always much taller than their peers, landing in the 99th percentile nearly every time we had a well child check.

My 10 year old daughter is nearly my height now, and my almost-seven-year old son is quickly catching up, already taller than she was at his age. I always felt it was a little unfair, and I’ll tell you why. I think as mothers, we can all relate with the sadness that comes with saying goodbye to certain stages. The tiny cuddles are probably one of the hardest to say good bye to! I’ll never forget snuggling my babies on my chest while I dozed by the Christmas tree, or by the pool, or on the front porch. I snuggled them as toddlers as much as I could.

But now? My daughter hardly fits on my lap. And my son is growing just as long and gangly as her. I felt like I got less “tiny” time with my kids because they were jolly green giants. They outgrew me quicker than most kids outgrew their moms!

HOWEVER. My son came home grumpy and tired yesterday from school. The evening was overall fine, but before bed, he plopped down next to me on the floor (I was working on a puzzle), and goes, “I’m grumpy.” And he proceeded to crawl into my lap, all 60 lbs of him, and squished his arms and legs up as much as he could, and placed his head on my chest and had me hold him for a long time.

My daughter has done the same. When I’m tucking her in after a rough day, she’ll ask me to sit with her, and she’ll snuggle up to me as tight as she possibly can. She doesn’t quite fit in my lap but she craves being held.

Obviously, I eat this up and soak it in. And we all know kids don’t ever really outgrow their mamas. But I also know my son will not be able to squish onto my lap when he’s 30. Will he call me though? I hope so.

And so it is with the Lord. We can never outgrow our need for Him, His comfort, and His loving touch. We just have to receive it, let it wash over us, let the TRUTH sink in that we CAN crawl into His lap to pray, cry, and be loved. The Bible is full of truths and promises that He longs to draw us close.

That’s why I love the readings for today:

He will stand and shepherd his flock
    in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
    will reach to the ends of the earth.
-Micah 5:4

He tends his flock like a shepherd:
    He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
    he gently leads those that have young.
-Isaiah 40:11

³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
*Matthew 9:35-37

I try so hard to figure out the plan. To fit in a box. To find a label. To be on God’s “magical golden path” for me specifically. And as far as Christmas, I try so hard to make it magical, check all the boxes, don’t forget to reflect on Jesus but also get all the gifts purchased/wrapped/given. But that’s not what He has for us at Christmas or in life. He has holiness for us. He has peace for us, and He has love for us! That’s the whole point of Christmas! Be held today.