Not Alone

I am not alone at all, I thought.

I was never alone at all.

And that, of course,

is the message of Christmas.

We are never alone.

Not when the night is darkest,

the wind coldest,

the world seemingly most indifferent.

For this is still the time God chooses.

- Taylor Caldwell

For those of you who have been waiting to hear about our tree this year, here's what happened.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, my college son Ben was lying on the couch. He looked at me and asked, "Can we put up the tree today?" Sure. I was already planning it as a possibility.

"Can we do it today? I want to do at least some of it." The last time I had heard anything like this from him, he was under the age of eight.

These are longings of the heart that every mother listens for. He didn't need to say anymore. I understood. I pulled out the box. He set up his laptop to play old-fashioned Christmas music for us -- Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald. He helped me unpack our new tree and arrange it with the lights on it. Other people trickled in to help hang the ornaments. Two hours later, we were finished.

He said to me, "I'm glad we have a tree. Not having one would be too depressing." Yes, son, I know. God knew it, too, long before I did. He arranged for this moment.

There are no words I can say. I'm just taking it in. The happy faces, the glowing tree, the music, the laughter, and my Lord, invisible but clearly present, smiling over us.

Our yuletide gift sits in the corner, twinkling merrily, with little white lights and green, red, and gold ornaments. Our tree in the wilderness. How good it is.