12.6.2012

when you sit down at dinner with the family to discuss how and where you'll give this Christmas with letters and catalogs full of giving opportunities and then the Advent Storybook that you've been reading pulls the whole point into one compounding exclamation point as the little bear who follows a star to find a baby, meets dressed-in-red Nicholas who gives away everything in his sack and says to the little bear, "And because we did, we are nearer to Bethlehem".

and when giving what you've agreed on isn't enough for some and they run to their wallets to give "just 5 more?" and there is great joy. great joy because of the One who gave everything for you.