A Christmas Memory

-


The Santa in the photo belongs to me. When you press his stomach he cheerfully says, “Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas”, and then he sings a verse of Santa Clause Is Coming to Town. I should state that my wife and I never endorsed the whole Santa thing at Christmastime. We never taught my daughter that he existed, but rather taught that he was a fantasy figure similar to a cartoon character. The thing is that as a Christian I cannot allow an omniscient and magical individual to supplement the glory of a Divine Savior who came to this world in human form to provide a redeeming work of grace. Jesus Christ came as a baby in a manger in order to die as a man on the cross. It is because of His redeeming work that we are able to receive the saving grace of God, and I could never allow Santa or anyone else to diminish the glory of Christ from the heart of my kid.

With this in mind, why then do I keep the Santa doll that speaks and sings in a somewhat goofy voice? My niece (the one that I’m closest to) gave it to me while I was in the hospital five years ago for Christmas. It came with some candy but, you know, that’s gone now. Spending Christmas in the hospital after the accident was a little surreal. I was still really weak and drugged. Consequently, seeing everyone who came to visit, and attempting to interact with them all, was a bit more taxing than you would think. I still have most of the gifts given to me that year, but the Santa doll stands out in my mind because my niece was really shocked by the accident and she had her mom get me gifts that she thought would cheer me up and help to make things better. That Santa doll represents a lot of love, and the love of others truly did help to get me through an enormously challenging period of time.

In my life I have been granted the love of God in Christ along with the love of family, and love is one of the reasons that my progress in recovering has been so successful. I truly have been blessed and do not dare to minimize the impact that love has made in my recovery from the accident injuries. Love made a difference then, and it still does now.

Related image
 I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas.
     



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oops

-
Image
I fell a couple of weeks ago. I was unloading some things into the garage from the trunk of my car, but it had been raining and I slipped on the garage floor. My one leg is neither strong nor stable enough to hold me up when something like this happens and I went down like a broken elevator. I could have landed in several different ways, but me and fate decided to land on my bad knee while attempting to break the fall by also landing on my bad hand. Yes, life is a cornucopia of exciting and wonderful events. I just noticed this morning that the pains associated with this little tidbit of fun have finally gone away. There's still pain at each location, but only the regular stuff. The potential to fall has always been one of my greater concerns since the motorcycle accident occured years ago. It has happened to me a few times over the years, but the thing is that I'm learning to fear it less as time marches on. I know that a fall can lead to some serious damage, but it's just...
Read more

I'm Not So Certain

-
Image
I went to see an orthopedic hand specialist today. I had to answer a host of invasive questions along with having my hand x-rayed. I liked the guy, but I'm really not too confident about where I'm going with this. My hand has developed a trigger finger from the tendon damage that occurred in the accident, and I also experience a great deal of painful discomfort from nerve damage. He gave me a shot in hopes of avoiding surgery for the trigger finger, and he gave me a referral for a neurologist in order to have the nerve damage tested. Today is Columbus Day and no one answered the phone as I attempted to make an appointment, so I assume that the neurologist stayed home to play with her dogs Nina, Pinta, and little Santa Maria. Anyway, the orthopedic surgeon told me that the test results from the neurologist will allow him to determine if he can help me with the nerve damage or not. So...a fifty dollar deductible payment later, and what I have is several questionnaires filled out,...
Read more

A New Light

-
Image
I’ve made a lot of progress in healing from my latest surgery. Things are nowhere near 100%, but I am much better. I’ve been told that I’ll be free to resume normal living after another three weeks.  I noticed something unusual last week about my accident injuries. The thing is that I couldn’t feel them. All day. The pain from this latest surgery was so pronounced that it eclipsed the “normal” pain that I feel daily. It’s all back now, but it was pretty much gone for a few days. I still feel a degree of pain from the surgery now, but not enough to make the other pains seem nonexistent. I guess the lesson to be learned is that things could always be worse and that I should be in no hurry when reacting to pain. It’s just there, and it doesn’t mean all that much. If my mind is stronger than my body, I really don’t need to consider the need for further surgery on my leg or arm quite so much. I think that the same lesson guides me to relax a little, live life, and endure the annoyance o...
Read more