well, it happened...the 'santa' game is up...

Well, it happened. The game is up! My oldest has figured it out…Santa Claus isn’t real. There will be no overweight man dressed in red and white coming down the chimney this year to deliver presents—it’s Mom & Dad. Nor will he be enjoying the cookies and milk (nor the reindeer the carrots)—it’s Daddy who eats them and leaves a few crumbs behind. The clever game that is so carefully devised to deceive (all in fun, of course) will no longer work in Meghan’s mind. I have to admit—it was difficult explaining it all to her because it forced me to face the fact that she is growing up—slowly, but surely maturing into the woman that she will one day become. It’s tempting to hold her back, to prevent her from growing up, but—at least when it comes to Santa Claus—I cannot keep her a little child any longer. This all makes me think, though: What about us adults? Do we hold ourselves back? Do we keep ourselves from maturing in Jesus, from becoming the people we’re created to be? How exactly do we do that? Well, we do it by refusing to be changed by him and by refusing to allow our lives to show we’ve been changed by him. Basically when we refuse to leave spiritually immature ways behind us, we are refusing to grow up in Jesus! It’s fun to be child, but an adult running around acting childish isn’t very funny. Let’s keep growing up…into Jesus that is! (Okay…if you really want to believe in Santa, go ahead. Just let me know if you need me to come and eat the cookies so you can think he’s been there, K?)