By Marilyn Huntman Giese
I cannot believe two weeks from tonight is Christmas Eve.
How did that happen?
The older I get the more distracted I am.
And then there is the ego!
Can you believe an 87-year-old widow has the audacity to print a book?
A book on nursery rhymes at that?
But not just ordinary nursery rhymes, Nursery Rhymes Your Mother Never Taught You.
Maybe it is not just ego.
Maybe she thinks her friends and neighbors need something to laugh about.
Maybe she thinks kernels of truth in rhymes can lead to serious questions about life today.
Maybe she hopes seeing the author’s name will remind people of her other books.
The book about Jesus.
The book about Simon Peter, Jesus’ closest follower.
Maybe she believes joy and hope and faith are possible as the old world crumbles.
It happened once before.
In a stable in Bethlehem with the birth of a baby…
The world was not ready for that baby.
When he became a man they thought he was slightly mad.
He taught that love overruled hate.
We’re still trying to catch onto that thought.
Even so, it was a beginning.
But as every storyteller knows, there is a beginning, a middle, and an end.
What happens in the middle is important.
There are crossroads.
One is marked “Destruction.”
Another reads “Peace on Earth.”
Yes, two weeks from tonight is Christmas Eve.
In the midnight silence of a star-studded night the cry of a newborn baby was heard…
…and unto us, a child was born.
“…you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save the people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
“For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11.
And the babe of Bethlehem grew, and Jesus the man gave us a new commandment:
“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34.
May Peace reign in our hearts and minds as we joyfully celebrate the birth of Jesus.