Who hasn’t recorded it? Amy Grant, Kelly Clarkson, Natalie Cole, Jane Monheit and others. It’s a lovely song written by David Foster and Linda Thompson Jenner, titled, “My Grown-Up Christmas List.” It wishes for “no more lives torn apart,” that “right would always win,” and “love would never end.” I second that.
But anything truly worth wishing for is worth praying for. So why not make your own grown-up Christmas list . . . and pray it? Whatever is on your list, I am praying for:
1) Peace in my heart.
Sure, peace on earth would be great, but it has to start somewhere, right? And what better place than in my heart? I wish for less stress in my life, more ability to let things go, fewer attempts at compulsive people-pleasing and a serenity like that of Julian of Norwich who wrote in simple faith, “All shall be well. All shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well.”
Accomplishing that will probably mean saying no to some good things, even some things I would love to do. But since I can’t do it all (and trying to causes way too much stress), I will pray for a slower, more peaceful Christmastide this year.
2) Time with my wife, children and grandchildren.
My wife and I love holiday celebrations with extended family and their household pets, but the people I most want to spend time with are my wife, children and grandchildren.
So instead of accepting every party invitation or holiday commitment that comes my way, I will pray and strive for maximum time over the holidays for the best people I know—the perfect children that my wife and I (okay, my wife mostly) managed to raise, as well as their spouses and children.
3) A warm, mushy feeling.
My family’s Christmas celebrations have always included attempts to bless someone else. We support Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree effort, purchasing gifts for the area children of prisoners. We ring bells for The Salvation Army. We try to make an anonymous cash donation to someone in need, and more.
We do those things because they’re the right things to do and because I would want someone to do them for me. But only once in a while have those efforts brought a tear to my eye or a lump to my throat. Maybe it’s selfish, but I will pray and strive this year for more “hi-touch” than “hi-tech” ways of giving, ways that make me feel all gooey inside.
4) A Bethlehem experience.
My grown-up Christmas list includes an inner experience of the infinite reality: that moment when the living God of Christmas overwhelms the human soul with an awareness of His presence and prompts a passionate response. It’s what poet Ann Weems (one of my favorites) means when she writes:
In the excitement and confusion, in the merry chaos,
let’s listen for the brush of angels’ wings.
This Advent, let’s go to Bethlehem
and find our kneeling place (Ann Weems, Kneeling in Bethlehem)
It may happen spontaneously, of course, as it did for the shepherds on that first Christmas. But I will also pray and plan to reach my “kneeling place.” I will seek it in corporate worship, in quiet prayer times and maybe in a concert or other performance where angels may show up.
That may not be much of a list. Just four items. Yours will probably be longer or better. But that’s okay. Praying through your grown-up Christmas list can’t hurt, and it may just bring a little more peace on earth and goodwill to men. And maybe a new MacBook Air.
