Sunday, December 11, 2011

Shepherds

Christmas is in wha???  2 weeks?!?   You've got to be kidding me!!  Well, maybe that's why I haven't been on here to blog.  Life has been super hectic, and yet, I don't really have anything exciting to report...just the latest Caudill Clan activities.  So, here's a brief list of what we've been up to: attempting to get a real tree, then deciding no one wanted to put lights on a 12 footer; decorating our home for Christmas, complete with 3 Christmas trees (one being a fake, pre-lit 12 footer); going to Las Vegas to celebrate my sister's 30th...which included seeing "Immortal," the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soliel show (highly recommend, btw); hosting a tea party for my 5th grade girls small group and their moms; attending Claire's preschool Christmas program (adorable, I was SO proud!); family birthday party for December birthdays; family dinners with family visiting from out of town; dinners with friends; making a gingerbread train and house with roomies and friends; teaching Bible stories in Sunday School, helping with Christmas event at church; etc... I'm sure you can all relate in some way or another.

As crazy as it's been, I have to say, I was so blessed today to get to teach the 2nd grade class about the angels who appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus.  It's a story I've heard a thousand times, and the 2nd graders have, too.  They were all completing my sentences and excitedly raising their hands to tell me the next part of the story.  But I wanted to try to make it a real experience for them.  So we talked about what the night might have been like...quiet...no cars, no planes, no iPhones with fun apps to distract anyone.  Complete silence, except for a sheep bleating here and there, maybe wood crackling in the fire, quiet whispers from the shepherds as some caught a few winks of sleep while the others watched their precious herd.  Can you imagine what they must have felt like when Gabriel appeared??  Hearts racing, eyes widening, sweat dripping, death gripping each others hands and shoulders.  I know that describes how I would have been!  Then once you start to calm down a little and kinda start to realize and comprehend what's going on...a whole multitude appears...are you kidding me?!?  This is the most frightening, amazing, scary, beautiful, terrifying, exciting thing I've ever seen...I'm sure was going through their minds.  I can't even imagine...I can't wait to experience multitudes of angels "praising God and singing, 'Glory to God in the highest,'" when I get to Heaven.  It's going to be awesome.  I imagine the shepherds were still stunned, but had that feeling you get in your stomach when you are so excited, yet so nervous as they left everything and ran to go find the baby Jesus, the promised Savior of the world.

Yes, I feel blessed that I got to teach that lesson to 2nd graders today, but I think I was more impacted than they were.  In all the craziness and busyness, I want to experience all the beauty and excitement the shepherds did that night so long ago.  I want to run to Jesus, to worship and adore Him and not get caught-up in the world's perception of Christmas...O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

3 comments:

  1. Amy I love it! Thanks so much for posting this on FB as i have never read your blog before and i was so blessed by it! I was crying right now as I read! <3

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanx, Amy! great reminder to focus on what really matters, through the eyes of a child! Good job! such a blessing to read. Debbie E.

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