I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. – Jesus, John 16:33

Here’s a very quick story because I have a lot to take care of today, and almost no time to write.

It’s a follow-up to the “Bad-Attitude Elf” story from the week before Christmas. The grandchildren wanted to keep talking about the elf, and what kind of mischief he was up to – so when Rebekah ran across the “magic glasses” at Home Depot a couple of days before Christmas, we couldn’t resist.

“The elf has spies everywhere,” we told David and Beks. “The spies especially like to hang out in the Christmas tree because they get a great view from there.”

“How do you know where they are?” they asked.

“We found these special glasses,” we told them. “We’ll show you when you get here.”

Sure enough, just before suppertime on Christmas Eve, the crew rolled in from Richmond and the first thing the children wanted to do was, “Look for the spies.”

Most of them were in the tree, disguised as snowpeople (and sometimes gingerbread men). But there were more all around the house, everywhere Rebekah had put lights. Even the candles had spies.

Of course, the children couldn’t see them at all. We had them search high and low before we showed them the magic glasses. Needless to say, they were very excited.

“MAGIC CHRISTMAS GLASSES”   My thought, as I watched the grandchildren sneak up on the spies and try to figure out exactly what was going on at our house, is that all of us (pretty much the entire population) tend to put on these magic “Christmas glasses” beginning around the second week of December, and everything is a little brighter, clearer, kinder, more sacred, and adorned with the trappings of belief.

People even go to church more, and generosity is a more natural response, and love, and goodwill – and “peace to all” becomes the lens through which we view the world.

Some of this lasts through the New Year. But, by and large, the magic Christmas glasses end up on the side of the road with the discarded Christmas tree, and we slip back into the same old same old…

But… Christ was really born. Christ really lived, and taught, and inspired, and died. Christ truly is risen! All that goodwill and peace and love we felt over and around Christmas is real! The message is ours, to carry over into the New Year and to enjoy every day of 2018!

Looking at the world through the lens of God’s Great Gift is exactly where we need to be, coming into January and the promise that is 2018.

In love, and because of love – DEREK