Present

'Tis the season to be thinking about them, using them as motivation for our kids, "You better watch out . . . ." Believe me being home all day with my kiddos, I am able to see the leverage of having an elf on the shelf not just during this time of year, but all year long. Something about "I need a little Christmas right this very moment. . . . "
C.S. Lewis writes as the senior devil in The Screwtape Letters to Wormwood the  devil in training about the 'present,' "We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow's end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the future every real gift which is offered to them in the present." I have so much to be happy for right now in my life. I tell my therapists when I am struggling with a task as easy as bending over to pick something off the floor, that I can do this TBI because I get to see my kids run and play unhindered as kids should be. I have a life full of loving people who make me CHAMPION in there eyes for being a miracle that I have no credit in taking credit for. It is only through my Savor Jesus Christ and his cleansing and enabling atonement that I am able to find the courage to continue to make my best effort to fight the good fight
.With that in mind I have given my over-worked wheelchair the next two weeks off,since Lex is home for Christmas break, I have no excuse of being worried that I will fall and get stuck on the floor. I have used that as a crutch to keep in my wheelchair at home, so that my kids won't have that added trauma in their life. I have found that after going to church and having so many friends come and tell me that I looked great and that they were amazed, I probably should have done this a while ago.
The other day. Lex and I got some Christmas shopping done and were both apologetic at the unglamourisness of the gifts that we have for each other. It made me realize how I had missed the 'present' part of Christmas. Yes, we want to get our loved ones gifts that say, "I love you and am grateful for you in my life," but how do I put a price tag on a picture from my kids, or my neighbors knocking on my door when it is 10 degrees outside to sing me a Christmas Carol?