“Daddy, won’t you fix my flower?”
—Zuzu to her father, George
Small children just thrill my soul as I watch them learn about themselves and the world around them. When my granddaughter, Amana, was born, it had been thirty-five years since I had consistently and frequently been around an infant. She is now three years old and each week I watch her take in the world. She has a simple faith in God and it touches my heart.
When the inside of our house was severely damaged by hurricane Helene, Amana came with her parents to see it. Amana looked around at the damage [everything including her toys and bed destroyed] and said, “Mimi, we need to pray!” So, she stood outside the house, closed her eyes, and prayed, “Jesus please fix Mimi and Papa’s house, because it has a very big booboo!” She opened her eyes and looked at me, “Mimi,” she said, “Jesus is going to fix your house!” And, from that sweet childlike prayer, it wasn’t long and divine connections were made to begin repairs.
In our lesson, today, from the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” it is Christmas Eve and we find a very distraught George Bailey. Nothing in his realm of experience is going right. George is angry and frightened about Mr. Potter’s threats to arrest him [lacking $8000 and facing potential bankruptcy] and when he returns home, everyone in the family gets a taste of the distress inside him.
He runs up the stairs and finds his small daughter, Zuzu, sick in bed. When Zuzu sees her father, she sits up to show him the flower she won at school; a flower that is wilting quickly. “Daddy, won’t you fix my flower?” George’s whole life is falling apart, but what does he do? He pretends to fix the flower by secretly taking off the wilted petals and tucking them in his pocket. The flower looks refreshed. Then, George returns the flower to a glass a water. For a brief moment, George forgets his problems and looks to love his daughter who places her hope in her father to make things better.
Life brings many experiences; some very pleasant and some very challenging. Yet, we must be able to sort through it all to find what God says is most important…hearts, because the soul is eternal. God is always concerned most about the hearts of his children. Life reveals what we truly believe, where we place our trust, and to whom we go to for help. Our heavenly Father sacrificially loves us and cares about our well-being and ‘all’ of our needs. There is nothing touching our lives that is out of God’s control to redeem, repair, or resurrect.
On this Christmas Eve, please remember your greatest Gift is a Savior who wants to touch your life with his goodness and glory. Only the Lord can fix our brokenness, as human beings, and guide us through the challenges as we place our trust in him. Jesus is the Waymaker into wholeness of the soul. He brings a brand new perspective within us and soon life begins to change. May we all, like humble children, pray for his help, believe in his promises, and follow his lead forward into the Good News of great JOY ahead!
OT Reading: Jeremiah 32:27 NLT “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?”
NT Reading: Luke 1:37 AMP “For with God nothing [is or ever] shall be impossible.”
Promise: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28).
Prayer: Lord, we know your Word never fails and everything we face is just another opportunity to see you bring wholeness out of the brokenness of our hearts and this world. We believe nothing is impossible to you and humbly choose to bow before the Savior of the world to receive the mercy and grace you long to bestow upon us. We give you our frustrations, our anger, our discontent, and our worries, today, because you have promised to bring your goodness into our lives! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
NOTE: We are gathering at Connect2Christ Church this evening at 6:30PM for a Communion and Candlelight service. I would be blessed to have you join us as we celebrate our Savior—the Christ!