“Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer, and Vixen,
“On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blixem;
Each reindeer had a unique name that represented him, just like all of us. I’m sure Santa thought long and hard about what to name each reindeer so it captured his best traits and represented him well.
Our parents lamented over what to name us, just as we did with our children. People know instinctively that a name is powerful and is associated with who a person is.
When I was about 4 years old, my mom and grown sister were talking to me and kept using my name.
Finally I asked them, “Are you talking to me, or my name?”
I was grappling with the elusive connection between who I was and my name.
1 Corinthians 12 teaches us an important lesson about who we are in Christ Jesus.
Let’s read verses 15-20:
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
Do you ever feel like you don’t have anything to offer? Like you don’t have a place or something important to do? Maybe you don’t feel productive and life seems like drudgery.
Guess what? You are a very important part of God’s plan and he has specially designed you to offer gifts and talents he needs for his kingdom!
When Santa’s reindeer were born, he saw each of them had a special gift needed to guide his sleigh each year.
Some were strong and could pull hard, some were better navigators and could steer and direct the sleigh, while of course our friend Rudolph, who thought he didn’t have any place at all, was at the front of the team lighting up the foggy night with his bright red nose!
You are a unique creation God has put here on earth to further his great plan of everyone knowing he loves them and wants to be in a relationship with them.
Maybe you are strong and can work hard, maybe you are the one who can direct and steer committees that make decisions. Have you been feeling like your gifts are worthless when God wants you at the front leading the whole team?
We are all part of the body, whether a foot, an ear, a knee, or shoulder, valued and needed to make the body operate and achieve its goals.
If you don’t know what part of the body you are or where you fit in, perhaps this holiday season you can look for new opportunities to explore your gifts and talents and uncover what part of the body you are?
Pray God will give you wisdom and discernment to know how he has designed you and for what purpose.
Just like the name that represents you, you are a one-of-a-kind person who God loves and has a plan for. Trust this and take the journey he has set out for you.
Just like Santa needs all his reindeer to pull the sleigh because of their special talents, God needs you to bring his love to all his people because he designed you like no one else and you can do things no one else can!
As you bless the kingdom with your special talents and gifts, your heart will be blessed to work out your faith in the way God designed exclusively for you!
SURPRISE PRESENT
Pin the Gingerbread people together (my version of pin the tail on the donkey)!
This cute little couple can be saved to your computer and printed to create our game!
1- Open the file on your computer and right click. Select to edit with paint 3D.
Click canvas at the top and enlarge over 100% and menu will give you the print option.
[You can also look up how to enlarge before printing if this doesn’t work for you.]
Print two copies. (My printer was running out of ink, AGAIN, so ours printed purple…we’ll just call that extra unexpected fun!)
Tape one on your wall.
2- Cut out the boy and girl from the other copy.
3- Cut into pieces.
4-Blind fold and spin your kids before trying to line up the pieces on top of the gingerbread people.
You can see we did not get our girl lined up at all, but had lots of fun in the process!