“Thinking of you!”

“Wish you were here!”

These common greetings written on a million postcards across the years are sweet and endearing. They have also been written from time to time with lesser motives we will not consider today. 

We recently enjoyed the vacation of a lifetime. We never dreamed we would have the opportunity to take such a vacation and therefore never made any plans for such an excursion. 

First, we would have to travel to Africa, a place many American Christians have prayed God would not send them. Second, we would have to know somebody who knows somebody to help us with planning such a trip. Third, there is a matter of finances, and I am married to a financial professional who is quite concerned at all times about dollars and cents. 

When we visit with our financial planner each year, he assures us we will be able to retire someday. By the time we have ridden the elevator to the ground floor and made our way out the door, my bride begins sounding like Eeyeore again, “We will never be able to retire.”

I am forever grateful for her careful management of our finances. She gets the biggest bang possible out of every buck. Her generosity is extravagant. 

One day over Mexican food in Grapevine, Texas, a friend and ministry leader in South Africa invited my coworker Becky and me to help him provide strategic planning with his organization. One thing after another unfolded quite nicely after that. 

When it comes to what I want for Christmas, please remember what I just said about the vacation of a lifetime. This trip was a Christmas present, anniversary present, birthday presents, and Mother’s and Father’s Day presents for years to come. 

One of the greatest gifts of a person’s lifetime has nothing to do with wrapping paper and bows. It has nothing to do with special days on the calendar. Instead, they are the people who enrich our lives. 

We hired a youth pastor at the last church where I served as pastor. We became so much more than coworkers. Not only do we love him and his immediate family like our own, but we love his extended family as well. 

My friend’s sisters, Kim Niles and Kelly Horn, are accomplished authors. Kim has a YouVersion Christmas devotional you can read this month. It’s called, Experiencing the Holidays with Jesus: Christmas. Look it up. 

Today’s devotional includes the verses above and a story Kim’s mom told her when she was a child. It’s as if God sends us notes every day saying, “Thinking of you!” He knows all about us, and as one guy wrote years ago, he loves us anyway. 

We celebrate Christmas because God was thinking of us. He was thinking of us before the world began. He was thinking of us when we lived lives separated from him. He was thinking of how he could draw us into a deep and loving relationship with himself. He is thinking about you now. He is thinking about your highest and best. You are always on his mind. 

God was thinking of you when you drifted off to sleep last night. He was thinking of you when you slumbered through the hours. He was thinking of you when you awoke this morning. The most loving and joyful Being in the universe turns his thoughts to you. He wants you to know his grace, mercy, and peace. 

Jesus is God’s thoughtful gift for each of us. He gives us life worth living today and life that endures forever.  He is the Giver of All Good Things.

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I will celebrate God’s thoughts toward me and his perfect gift for what I need now and forever.

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Our Father, thank you for knowing all about me and loving me anyway. Thank you for thinking of me. May your thoughts about me shape me more than my thoughts about myself. You think better than I do. You desire better for me than I desire for myself. Amen.