On the day before vacation, we drew our praises to the Lord as we listened to the Christmas story from the Jesus Storybook Bible.

Every Christmas my niece Gloriana reminds me what it is to worship with the heart of a child. We have a collection of manger scenes, and the adults always set them up so neatly.

Ever since Gloriana was old enough to toddle about on her own, every time we turned around, all the manger scenes would be rearranged.

She still does it at eleven, and I hope she always does.  Every time I see these adoring circles, I pray that I will single-mindedly focus on my Savior with every breath I take for every day of my life.

As Lloyd-Jones says in the Jesus Storybook Bible, “They gazed in wonder at God’s Great Gift, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.

Mary and Joseph named him Jesus, ‘Emmanuel’–which means ‘God has come to live with us.’

Because, of course, he had.”