He Smiled at Me

The Little Drummer Boy has always been one of my very favorite songs to both sing and listen to at Christmas.  The wonderful imagery of a small poor boy offering what he feels is not fit (performing on his drum) yet was all he had to honor the Baby King Jesus – it so touches a deep place in us.  It is so beautiful how these few simple words evoke all the resonance in us with the little drummer boy.  Knowing his poverty and feeling the inadequacy in the face of the great high worth of The King.  Yet in seeing Jesus as a little vulnerable baby born to poor parents like himself he gives with all of his heart, his very best, sincerely.   And then Jesus smiles at him.  That is the topper – and doesn’t our heart so long for that, for Jesus to smile at us accepting our whole-hearted gift – to accept us?  To take joy in us! 

I was thinking about this carol and something sort of jumped out to me.  God has been trying to help me see this more clearly over all of my life – but highlighted it even more significantly this year. I realize that while it is outlined and hinted at, the way things are highlighted and emphasized in this song are a bit out of alignment with the true Christmas story.  God did not wait until we humbly offered our best to smile at us.  God smiled first!  God with great and awesome joy in His heart - sent his very best, his most beloved and deeply treasured son.  We see the hint in the song that the people understood the majesty and great significance of the King, “our finest gifts we bring…to lay before the king”.  The majesty of God’s gift to the whole world is so beyond what we can begin to comprehend - it sobers and awes us.   But, the part that is sort of missing is that through this majestic awesome gift of his heart how He smiled the most accepting whole-heartedly delighted, fully embracing and “powerful-to-save” smile on us first - generously, lovingly and joyfully!  Jesus is God’s brilliantly powerful smile over us! All of mankind corporately and each of us as a person, individually longs for the belonging His smile brings!  That is deeply personal and intimate and our soul thirsts greatly for this!   Personal acceptance of us (in our pitiful “I have no gift to bring…that’s fit to give the king”) by the one who can only be described as perfection – how can we grapple with the magnitude of it?  Our performance does not cause Jesus’ smile.  Our whole-hearted acceptance of His all-embracing smile right at us which brings us such great delight in Him, a whole-hearted response of adoration – that’s the place we connect deeply and truly with God’s greatest gift.

In this season, plagued with doing, doing, doing from a place of anxious expectations, take time to sit awhile under the King’s Mighty Smile of pure Acceptance and Love of YOU!  You’ll adore the perfect gift that keeps on giving.  Can’t earn Him, just receive Him and you will sigh with satisfaction and even find you’re smiling too!