Four and one-half years...
Illustration
Four and one-half years old is a time when questions come quickly, and time passes very slowly. "When is Christmas coming?" Jimmy would ask each morning, after the store decorations began to appear. "Is it ready to come yet?"
Jimmy's mother looked for ways to help her son's impatience. She took time to tell him that Advent really means that Jesus' birthday is coming.
To make the waiting easier, she found ways to involve the whole family in preparing for Christ's birth. "We'll take this big sheet of poster board," she told Jimmy, "and mark it with one square for each of the days until December 25. Then every morning you can help by crossing out yesterday's square.
"There's another thing about Christmas coming," she told her son. "When we go to church each Sunday, listen hard to see how often the words 'come' or 'coming' are read from the Bible, or in the hymns we sing."
"Like which ones?" Jimmy asked.
"Well, Advent begins with 'O Come, O Come Immanuel,' " his mother told him. "And then there's 'Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus,' and I guess you can find others. And on this first Sunday in Advent, I think the word 'come' is in the Bible reading from Isaiah, four times!"
Jimmy really liked his mother's games. And so, when Jesus' birthday really did come, he enjoyed it all the more.
Jimmy's mother looked for ways to help her son's impatience. She took time to tell him that Advent really means that Jesus' birthday is coming.
To make the waiting easier, she found ways to involve the whole family in preparing for Christ's birth. "We'll take this big sheet of poster board," she told Jimmy, "and mark it with one square for each of the days until December 25. Then every morning you can help by crossing out yesterday's square.
"There's another thing about Christmas coming," she told her son. "When we go to church each Sunday, listen hard to see how often the words 'come' or 'coming' are read from the Bible, or in the hymns we sing."
"Like which ones?" Jimmy asked.
"Well, Advent begins with 'O Come, O Come Immanuel,' " his mother told him. "And then there's 'Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus,' and I guess you can find others. And on this first Sunday in Advent, I think the word 'come' is in the Bible reading from Isaiah, four times!"
Jimmy really liked his mother's games. And so, when Jesus' birthday really did come, he enjoyed it all the more.
