I don’t know about you, but I don’t respond well to people that use pressure, threats, obligation, or other forms of manipulation.  This approach to relationships has me coming to a complete standstill or back peddling so quickly I break the sound barrier.  You can’t win me over by force, but I can be persuaded with loving kindness.

These are the thoughts that I have been mulling over the past few months.  The loving kindness of God.  As I watched my grandfather in his final days, as I face the last holiday with my oldest before he leaves for the Corps, my thoughts keep returning to the tenderness of our Father’s calling.

If you look for it, even in heartache, loss, and bittersweet times, you’ll see the scarlet thread of His grace, mercy, tenderness, and love reaching out to us.  Inviting us to partake.  His love is our invitation.

My earthly father first illustrated this love for me when he pursued me as a runaway teen.  I had left home because I didn’t want to face the fears, heartache, shame, and trauma of my sexual assault.  I wanted to sweep it under the rug, hide it away, and keep it there forever.  I was ruined.  What was the use in talking about it?

Running away didn’t stop my dad’s pursuit.  He would come to my work everyday and ask me to look him in the eyes.  I‘ll never forget the first time he did it.  

I was afraid to look up.  I knew that when I did, I would see disappointment, anger, and the like.  So, my eyes ever so slowly travelled up to my father’s until I partook of his loving gaze.  Before I could even process the undeserved tenderness I saw reflected back at me, my heart heard his words.  They went something like this: “You are my daughter.  There is nothing you can ever do to lose my love.  You are mine and I will always love you.”

My dad didn’t stay behind to see what those words did to me, my stony expression wouldn’t have betrayed much.  But those words called me home.  The culmination of his continuing pursuit and love eventually brought me back into a relationship with him.  

Our Heavenly Father pursues us the same way.  Even in the garden, He made a way for us to be with Him.  A way for us to be restored into a right relationship.  That way is Jesus.  The Word made flesh.  Emmanuel, God with us.  The one who sacrificed it all for us.

It’s there for everyone to see.  In history, in our very lives God has been seeking mankind all along.  He has been working behind the scenes lovingly calling us to Him.  Have you answered His call?  Have you accepted His invitation?  He’s waiting for you.

The holidays are full of stress, running to and fro, expectations, obligations, and so much more.  Most years by the time Christmas Day actually rolls around, silent tears are streaming down my face.  For this working mom with only one or two days off during the holidays, it’s just too much.  I need time to be still, to reflect, and recharge.   

So this year, my family is giving me the gift of time.  Instead of our normal 3 to 4 Christmas celebrations, we will only be having 1.  We have chosen memories over busyness.  Mindful, discussion over harried shopping and quality time over numerous holiday celebrations.

For the first time in forever, I am actually looking forward to this day.  Knowing that I don’t have to rush has allowed my spirit to recharge.  Anticipating our new holiday traditions has made our last Christmas as a family of five something to look forward to instead of something to get through.  In fact, I even found time to read a new book.  

So, this Christmas season you will find me baking cookies instead of packing.  Playing games with my kids instead of spending hours in the car traveling; and savoring each moment instead of rushing through it.  This may be a season of lasts for our family, but it is also a season of firsts.  A season of Hope and a season of New Beginnings.     

Over the course of the last week, I have had many moments of quiet reflection about the life of one man, my grandfather.  The more I pondered the life he lived, the more AWE built inside of me.  This awe wasn’t reflected toward the man himself, but toward the Man he served.  

If you had been among those lucky enough to meet my grandfather, you would have observed at least four things about him.  He was a well groomed man that was at home in a Stetson and bolo tie for one.  2.  He loved fishing.  3.  He loved Jesus.  4.  In fact, he loved Jesus so much that he had to share Him with everyone he met.

That’s the legacy my grandfather left me.  Not religion or the practice thereof, but a living breathing relationship with Jesus Christ.

My grandfather wasn’t perfect, but his life weaves a beautiful pattern of walking with his Savior.  A tapestry of grace, forgiveness, and transformation.  My grandfather loved because Christ loved him first.  It was evident in the way he lived his life in service to his King and to others.

The legacy of faith my grandfather left behind is like any other gift in the fact that it must be unwrapped and accepted by the receiver.  As a receiver of this priceless legacy, it’s up to me what I do with it.  I can leave it wrapped, open it and put it on a shelf after examination, or I can put this legacy into practice in my own life each day.  

I can’t think of a better time for the legacy of faith he left behind to be opened, lived, and poured out then during a time of Thanksgiving and the Season of Christ’s birth.  This holiday season, I hope that you take the time to quietly unfold all of the mysteries of Christ’s birth and that you find the courage to accept God’s gift given to you and me that we might have and live a life of abundant joy, peace, acceptance, belonging, and freedom all through one man who came to earth as a baby, Jesus.