Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum

I don't know what it is about Christmas music, but most of it has always gotten on my nerves. There are a few songs I really like (one of which is I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas), but mostly I find them tiring. Back around the end of November, an older gentleman at church, Bill, approached me and humbly requested at least one Christmas song per week during the month of December. I really like Bill. Every now and then, he'll go out of his way to tell me that I do a great job while at the same time asking my why the heck I don't play many old hymns. He's quality. So, sometimes when I'm planning worship, I think of Bill and put in a song or 2 that I think will aid him and his peers in their Sunday worship time.

But it was tough to find enough Christmas songs that I enjoy singing. Personally, I feel that if the worship leader doesn't like the song, the worship leader probably won't do a great job leading the song, and therefore an alternate song should be chosen. (Did I just refer to myself in the 3rd person? Does anyone else think that Chris Henry denied he was the one with the gun by saying "It wasn't 15, it wasn't 15..."? But I digress...) I was looking at a big list of Christmas songs, dismissing most of them before really giving them much thought, and saw the title The Little Drummer Boy. The percussive lyrics "pa rum pum pum pum" starting going through my head, and I was getting annoyed, so I started to move on. But then I clicked on the link to show lyrics, passed right on over the pa rum pum pum pums and read:

Come they told me, a new born King to see.
Our finest gifts we bring to lay before the King, so to honor Him when we come
Little Baby, I am a poor boy too.
I have no gift to bring that's fit to give our King...
Shall I play for you on my drum?
Mary nodded. The ox and lamb kept time.
I played my drum for Him... I played my best for Him...
Then He smiled at me, me and my drum.

It is now my favorite Christmas song. I usually focus on the parts of Scripture that tell me that what I have to offer my God is filthy rags; as opposed to the parts of Scripture that tell me that I'm a new creation and that my old self is dead. I absolutely believe that I am worthless save for the redeeming blood of Christ. It is good to know how badly I need my Savior. However, it's also a problem I have, not willing to accept all the newness that God has given in salvation. This song is right up my alley. My translation:

I've been called to come worship the Christ, and to bring my best to give to Him.
I approached the manger throne, downtrodden, and said:
"Why should you accept anything of mine? I have nothing worthy enough,
But I'll give you all I have, and I hope there's something in there that You like."
Then I gave Him my best, and waited to be shown the door...
To my surprise, He smiled at me and called me His own.

Toby has been trying to smile for about 10 days now. I knew it was coming soon, as his facial expressions are maturing rapidly. Every once in a while, he smiles, but there appears to be no rhyme or reason to it, it will just be random. I'll see Robyn holding him and he just stares at her in wonder, and with good reason, as she is his world. I know how that feels... everybody loves their momma.

This morning was different. I picked him up and was carrying him around. I held him up to look at him so that our faces were about 18 inches apart. He was calm. He was just staring at me. I gave him a "what are you looking at, huh? Huh?" and he smiled. My son just smiled at me. He knows who I am. This wasn't a random smile. This was an I-know-him-and-he-takes-good-care-of-me-and-I-like-him smile. Ok, maybe he didn't think it through that much, but that's how it felt. It felt good.

My son smiled at me this morning and it made my day. Love somebody today. Make their day. All it took for me was a smile. Love. Love. Love.