Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.—2 Corinthians 9:7
We sat in the auditorium. Elementary school children filled the stage with instruments under their arms. They scanned the audience, smiling nervously. The music started. A little girl in the back row holding a trumpet swayed back and forth, and a flute player fidgeted, but it was the boy in the front row who captured our attention.
Adorably, he balanced himself on the edge of a tall stool. His oversize glasses hung low on his nose. He wiggled toward the huge instrument: a bass clarinet that was as big as he was. As the students played “Away in a Manger,” my eyes darted between the beaming little girl with the trumpet who waved her free hand as if she were at a rock concert and the boy in the front with the enormous clarinet. The music teacher cued a solo and the band went silent except for the boy on the stool. He leaned toward his instrument with eyes wide, cheeks full, face red. He leaned and blew and blew and blew his heart out.
The notes weren’t important. I have no memory of what the instrument sounded like. It was the intention, his effort, his giving it his all that came like a beam of light right out of him and into us. He finished and took a bow. I got to my feet to join the crowd bursting with applause. This is it, I thought. This is Christmas.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the moments when we realize what Christmas is all about.
