As the service began, we were all dressed in our Christmas finest, hoping for a wonderful time of worship as a family, but expecting less. We drove back to College Station that day from Dallas, and Annie was so excited to be home that she refused to take a nap in the afternoon. So, she was in "top form" when we arrived at church just before 5:00. She was noisy, wiggly, and ended up actually asking to play in the nursery instead of being forced to be still and quiet with us. I was so disappointed... I had wanted us to all be together and for the kids to color cute Christmas pictures while sitting like angels during the sermon. So, I will admit that I got in quite a funk about things not going as I planned. We picked up Annie in time for Communion and then started my favorite part of our service - the lighting of the candles while we sang Christmas hymns. Annie was still being really noisy, but I noticed something... so were all of the other toddlers. And all of the parents just exchanged sympathetic glances instead of getting frustrated. And I also remembered our little buddy Carson, who was celebrating his first Christmas in heaven, and I thought about how I wouldn't care how loud he was if we could just have him with us at church one more time, and how my feelings about Carson are nothing compared to how much his parents must miss him. Then, as we sang Silent Night and Chance was ushering and lighting candles with his big one, I was overcome with another memory - my Opa serving as an usher at our church in New Braunfels and lighting our candles at a Christmas Eve service. My worry over Annie's behavior was replaced with thankfulness for the years we had with Opa and the fact that my husband now serves in the same role that he did. As our candles were lit (and Annie's safe battery powered one turned on), we sang our last song, which was Unspeakable Joy. Everyone raised their candles high, and Cade's face was filled with joy because he was lucky enough to hold 2 candles (mine and his, because who knows what would have happened if I held one while holding Annie). Annie was fascinated with her light, and Chance joined us after making sure everyone around us had functioning candles. Like a child, I honestly thought at that moment that our candles were high enough and bright enough to be seen by everyone that we love in heaven, including Jesus and God. We truly experienced Unspeakable Joy!
After the service, everyone's moods were good enough for a couple of pictures! Some friends from church stuck around to take our picture and even turned the stage lights back on for us.
I love that Annie is so intrigued by her big brother that she looks at him instead of the camera. I also love the fact that she had stopped screaming.
Our pictures took long enough that the tasty dinner we had planned turned into picking up Little Ceasars pizza. Oops. I do think a Christmas memory was made though!
"Joy, unspeakable joy
An overflowing well, no tongue can tell.
Joy, unspeakable joy
Rises in my soul, never lets me go"
No comments:
Post a Comment