In a wonderful old romantic comedy called How to Steal a Million, featuring the recently deceased Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn; the hero states, “the code word is togetherness!”
That thought has been on my mind all this holiday season; not just because we have guests who are brave enough to cram into our little apartment here for a visit, but also because having family here is what makes it Christmas for me. My love language is time spent together. So even though fixing Christmas dinner is an exercise in juggling and gymnastics in my miniscule kitchen, the fact that I was fixing it with my daughter’s help made it a meaningful memory for me.
God was in favor of togetherness. He sent us at Christmas, Emmanuel, God with us. I want to remember that this year, no matter how cramped and uncomfortable my circumstances; He is with me. That means love to me! The God who so wanted to be close to us that He sent His spirit to live within us said,
John 14:16-20 (ESV)
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
That is what I call TOGETHERNESS!
Merry Christmas everyone! May you come to know Emmanuel; remember the code word is togetherness!