Sunday, December 23, 2007

Lord, Hear My Drum and Smile

Little Drummer Boy tells us the story of a little boy who has been told to come and see the newborn Christ -- with a gift to bring Him, of course. But this boy has just as little as the infant Jesus, laying in His manger, and has no gift worthy of the Christ child. Therefore, he does he only thing he can: he plays his drum for the Messiah, the best he can, and the baby Savior smiles.

Now I know the metaphor here is pretty obvious, but it hits me, deeply, every time I have the patience to make it all the way through the many rum-pa-pum-pums. We are each called to see the King, to witness the miracles He can bring to our lives, but we also must bring to Him a gift. Sometimes we have so little -- our gifts seem so inadequate to offer our King. However, if we offer all we can, the best we can, our gift, our heart, is accepted by our God.

I also like that it is a drum that the little boy plays. I really believe it is the steady beat of our daily lives, the constant struggle to give our heart to Him, that makes our offering acceptable. It is our action, the lifting of the sticks and applying them to the smooth surface of the drum, that makes the Lord smile.

I've been talking with a friend about humility for almost a week now...it's been wonderfully fun and we've brought up some truly insightful questions, and solid responses to those questions.
Humility, I think, has everything to do with drumming our beat for Christ. If we turn the focus from ourselves -- our own knowledge, our own plans, etc -- to God, then we are able to offer an acceptable gift.

The interesting thing is that Jesus Christ, when He smiles, is not only smiling at our drumbeat. He smiles because of who we have become as we learn to play. Lately I've been struggling to be close to God. However, God knows that I love Him, and that I'm still only practicing my drumbeat -- but I'm practicing it for Him.

2 comments:

  1. Haha... wonder what friend could have got you thinking about Little Drummer Boy??? Huh??? Huh???

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  2. :-P

    Maybe got me STARTED thinking about it...

    -grin-

    ReplyDelete