I love Christmas music....I turned on my XM the day after Thanksgiving to the holiday station and will probably be listening to Christmas music from hereon until Christmas Day. One of my favorite contemporary songs is "My Grown Up Christmas List". I especially love the way Amy Grant sings it.In one verse her wish is that "love would always win". I like to believe in love always winning.
The photo I've posted above is a picture of a table in my living room. There are some special things about that table. It's a table from my Meme's house, and she was very special to me. So everytime I look at that table, I think of her and smile. Also, the plaque that is on the table is a second-hand treasure that I found in a thrift shop and just fell in love with a few years ago. It cost me practically nothing, and to me the words just symbolize what I feel about family.
Not too long ago, the plaque was accidentally bumped from the table and broken. I cried, not over a broken item, but over the brokenness of a symbol I have grown fond of. You see, my family has been broken this year. But we are still together, and we are working on healing. Andy lovingly and carefully put the pieces back together with some "gorilla glue" and after we let it dry, it was good again. I look at it now, and even the cracks are meaningful. You see, God is MY gorilla glue. When I am broken, He puts me back together and I am bonded to Him through His grace and mercy. I may be bruised and cracked, but I am made whole in Him. My family may take a few hits along the way, we may get battered, but we are healed through Him. He restores us to a place of grace and love.
Are we perfect as a family? Heavens, no. Just like my plaque with its imperfections, we have ours too. But we choose to believe that "love will always win".
And that is my grown-up Christmas list.
