"He sees you when your sleeping, He knows when your awake, he knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake"
Just last week we unpacked our Christmas stuff and got it all set up. We have a fake tree with the lights already on it. (SWEET!!!) It makes things so easy. We have our homemade stockings (my wife made but we can't find yet this year), cookie plate for santa and all the ornaments. One of my favorite things that we pull out of the boxes each year is a Santa music box. Underneath this figure of Santa is a little lever and after you turn it till it won't turn anymore you place it back down and it plays "Santa Claus is coming to town." It is so beautiful the way it plays it. It is amazing to me how sounds can take me back in time. Listening to it takes me back to when Beth and I first got married and we spent Christmas in Nebraska. Man, it was freezing and snow covered the ground. We lived in military housing built in the 1940's and when the wind blew you could feel it inside. Hearing the song reminds me of the creaking of the floor, the lights on our first tree (we have been through 3 in our marriage), getting warm under some fleece blankets in my big green recliner (it passed away years ago-should of gotten a lazy boy). The song sounds so beautiful through the chiming of that santa music box. It sounds like the most beautiful masterpiece ever written. I think the reason I like it so much is because it has no words to it, just the sounds of the chime. If you have ever listened to the song in it's entirety including lyrics it is actually a threatening and scary song. The idea is that Santa is watching every move you make and that you better not mess up or you will be forced to celebrate Christmas empty handed. I remember hearing the song as a child and thinking, "If santa knew everything I did, I am not getting a thing and furthermore I might get arrested." The idea of threatening children to behave because Santa is lurking in every corner is just weird to tell you the truth. Now I don't know where you stand on Santa (if he is real of not) and that isn't the point of all my rambling. The truth is that this idea of us being watched doesn't find it's origins in Santa Claus. We see it in the scripture. I was reading Hebrews 4:13-16 this morning and was reminded that our lives are laid bare before Christ. He really does sees us when we are sleeping and He really knows if we are awake and He honestly knows about every "good" and "bad" thing we have done and will do in between. The crazy part about it all is that instead of seeing and judging our deeds and rewarding or punishing based on them, Jesus sympathises with our weaknesses and makes us welcomed in the presence of God through His shed blood. Isn't it crazy that the holiday when we celebrate the gift of Jesus to the world, we idolize a character who has nothing to do with Christmas and is nothing like Christ. Weird.
But I still love the song..................without the words.
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