It was the Christmas season and my little man, Koda, could not contain his excitement to see Santa. I mentioned to him that Santa would be at his brother’s school, and he immediately needed a better understanding of when he would see Santa. He questioned me on the date and how many times he would sleep before that day. At the time, Koda was 3 and really struggled to understand the difference between today, tonight and tomorrow. I tried to tell him that it was still a few days off in the hopes that it would end the relentless questions I was enduring. Each day he would ask again if he would see Santa today, tonight or tomorrow.
The night finally arrived! I don’t know which of us were more excited, he or I. The arrival of this night meant the end of the shotgun fire of questions. When we opened the door to the school, the line was long. It was so long that we could not see the end. I took a deep breath, knowing the level of patience the wait was going to require of both Koda and myself. Koda slid his body to the right and left to try to catch a peek at Santa. As we slowly moved up he crouched to the floor unconcerned of being stepped on by the endless families pushing their way to the front. He then reached up to his tiptoes to attempt to see over the line of people in front of us. He just wanted to see with his own eyes that Santa was truly at the front of this slowly moving line. After baby stepping forward for a good 45 minutes, we finally made it to the front of the line. Koda was wearing a permanent smile.
The lady assisting Santa motioned to Koda that he could step up to the big man with the white beard and red suit. He hopped up in Santa’s lap and became the shy Koda that he tends to morph into in public. Santa asked him the universally known question, “What do you want for Christmas?” With the biggest grin on his face, Koda said, “Surprise Me!” All this waiting, all of this time to think of how to answer the question every kid waits for Santa to ask and Koda doesn’t care. He knows anything Santa will give him will be good, but for now he just wants to be in his presence.
What a lesson for me! Sometimes I looked at my time with God as a time to present my Christmas list. I had forgotten the excitement and joy of just being in His presence. I had forgotten that time with Him is more life giving than any gift I could write on a list. I had lost the anticipation of simply being with Him. Thank you Koda for the reminder to seek Him more than what He can do for me!
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of JOY; at your right hand are pleasures forever more. Psalm 16:11