God's Friends

Caleb has been so cute this year looking at all of the decorations. Everytime we pass a house that is decorated with lights, he exclaims in his best excited voice, "Look, it's Christmas on that house." Well, today he and I were riding in the car today and we passed a nativity scene. Of course he got excited and said, "Look Mommy, it's Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus and some kings!...Hey Mommy, why are there kings there? (I explained) Hey Mommy, why is Mary there? (I explained) Hey Mommy, why is Joseph there?" At this point I was in "answer the toddler mode" which means that I was giving automatic answers without really thinking. When he asked why Joseph was there I almost said, "because that was Jesus' daddy," but I caught myself. My better explanation was that God gave Joseph the job of taking care of Jesus as his daddy on earth, but that God was Jesus' real daddy. I was expecting that to be the end of the discussion, but the floodgates opened and I had a lot more questions to answer like "Why did God want to have Jesus? Why was God Jesus' daddy?" and suddenly I realized we were talking about the gospel and our need for a savior in 2 year old terms. I got excited as we talked about Adam and Eve (he thinks he knows them from reading the Bible at night)and their mistakes, that God missed being friends with people, and that He needed to send Jesus so that we could talk to God again and be friends with him. Then that little sweet voice piped up and said, "Well Mommy, who is God's friend?" I turned around and looked at him and said, "I'm looking at God's friend right now. You are God's friend." That wasn't quite enough of an answer for him (or maybe he's just trained to ask the same question at least 10 times in a row) because he asked again, "Who else is God's friend?" I responded, "You are looking at one of God's friends because I am God's friend too, just like you." Without missing a beat he said, "and Daddy and Karis AND Mamie and Poppy AND GiGi and Grandpa. They are all God's friends too!" How sweet..."Yes they are buddy. They are all God's friends." Then he laughed and it became a game..."and that person (pointing to someone in a car) is God's friend and that person is God's friend and the Pirates are God's friends" (a true Pirate fan:)). I just laughed and then we talked about how every person you see is God's friend or someone that He wants to be friends with. As we turned into the parking lot and our short drive was ending, I realized the profound truth that we had just been talking about and the real reason that we celebrate Christmas. God loves us so much that He sent His son, Jesus, to earth so that we would have a way to be friends with Him again. God is our friend...and not just ours (you know...us "Christians") but the people in line in front of you, the person who just cut you off while you were driving, your co-worker that drives you crazy, your parents, siblings, every person you see. So as we enjoy warm fires, hot cocoa, Christmas trees, great decorations, parties, and overall fun times, remember to tell people who you might not otherwise talk to, that God wants to be their friend!