Liz Alley – Dear Jesus

As I said, Jesus, we’ve made a mess of your birthday. We buy presents for each other instead of giving the real things we need that can’t be bought. We eat too much, drink too much, spend too much, all in the name of Christmas, and what’s worse, we take credit for the things you’ve done; we act like, I’m sorry to say, spoiled children most of the time. However, all is not lost because, in the rush of holiday shopping, I saw my daughter leave the checkout line and help an elderly man to his car with his groceries. And the other day, the person in front of me at the drive-thru paid for my meal. In the waiting room at the doctor’s office, a young man got up and gave an older man his seat. I saw a woman with a baby on her hip return her shopping cart though it would have been easier to leave it in the parking lot. I watched my granddaughter deliver flowers to my neighbors. Sometimes, on my morning walk, I find painted stones that say, “Have a good day” or “God loves you.” And there is the moment at church when all voices, big and small, sing “Jesus Loves Me,” and truer words were never spoken. So today, I’m writing to you, Jesus, to say thank you for loving us no matter how badly we mess things up. If we had to wait for your love until we got it all perfect, well then, we’d never have it. Thank you for reminding us to soften our hearts and cool it with all the commercialism this Christmas. Thank you for moving us to be compassionate and forgiving, like you do for us every day. Thank you for reminding us to build each other up and give of ourselves. I’m writing to tell you that this Christmas I’m going to do better. I’m going to maintain hope for this world you were willing to be born into and die for. With all my heart, I say, “Happy Birthday, Jesus!”

Dear Jesus,

Well, as I’m sure you know, we’ve made a mess of things down here on earth. There are wars and rumors of wars. The truth is now being touted as “relative.” I heard a kid in Walmart tell his mother to shut up, and do you know what she said back to him? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Have mercy. I have to tell you, Jesus, down here on earth, what is wrong seems right and what is right seems wrong; how you must be shaking your head at all this foolery. Oh, but no, because you told us in Matthew 24 that it would be this way; still, it seems I’m always surprised. And I was wondering if you’ve noticed all the extreme Christmas decorations? I tread carefully here as I love decorating myself. However, I just read about a house in Florida that has over 150,000 lighted figurines put out for Christmas. In California, there’s a house that has 250,000 Legos on the tree, and I don’t know; it seems to me that there are way prettier things for a Christmas tree than Legos. Anyway, I’m sorry to tell you that the outrageous decorations down here on earth usually have nothing to do with your birthday. Some places, in fact, even want to ban manger scenes; I get weary just thinking about it.

Then there are the gifts, the spending, and the debt, surrounding Christmas that is out of control. I’m confessing I am guilty of this too, but have you seen how cute my grandchildren are? The thought of their little faces lighting up when I give them just the right thing to ensure they’ll never have a problem in their life is intoxicating! The thought of them saying one day, “It was that perfect gift from my grandmother that boosted my self-esteem enough for me to become President of the United States,” is certainly worth the investment, isn’t it? And as far as the gift thing goes, it doesn’t help that situation when Santa, with his pushy agenda, flies around all night with his reindeer, dropping presents everywhere. I mean, he’s a nice guy and all, but I’m pretty sure he’s taking all the credit for Christmas. I hate to even admit what I’ve spent on wrapping paper and glittery bows; as you know, I do have a thing about beautifully wrapped gifts. I love you.

Liz Alley – Your Lover of words, wrapper of gifts, love smotherer of grandchildren, easily surprised, hopelessly sentimental, Type A personality kid.

Liz Alley was born and raised in Rabun County in the city of Tiger. She loves to write. She is an interior designer specializing in repurposing the broken, tarnished, chipped, faded, worn and weathered into pieces that are precious again. She is the mother of two daughters and has three grandchildren. She divides her time between her home in Newnan and Rabun County.