December 20, 2017
Nicholas was 6 years old and it was the most exciting day of his entire life! He was in Kindergarten and today was the day of his very first “Winter Pageant.” (This is what they called the Christmas Pageant in the public school system: The Winter Pageant.) Every seat in the auditorium was filled. So it was an exciting moment when the Kindergarten class rose to sing the first song.
Nicholas and all his classmates were wearing fuzzy mittens, red scarves, and Santa caps upon their heads. The children began to sing and hold up big letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song.
One girl held up a big, sparkly “C” and they all sang, “C is for Candy Canes.” Then a little boy held up the letter “H” and they all sang, “H is for Happiness.” On and on it went, until it would eventually spell out the complete message, “CHRISTMAS LOVE.”
The performance was going smoothly … until it came to Nicholas. He was to hold up the letter “M” in the word “Christmas,” but he was holding it upside down – totally unaware his letter “M” now appeared as a “W.” The audience snickered at this little fellow’s mistake. He had no idea why they were laughing at him, so he stood tall, proudly holding up that “W.”
Although the teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised … and, suddenly, a silence spread through that auditorium. A hush fell over the audience as they all saw it together, at the same time, and their eyes began to widen.
In that instant, everyone understood the reason they were there, why they celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the busyness and chaos, there was a purpose to it all. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear: “CHRISTWAS LOVE”
“CHRIST WAS LOVE.” Christ is love. And it is with love that He is reaching out to you today.