IF ONLY IN MY DREAMS

I'll be home for Christmas, again, this year but not entirely. There is an old Gospel song I used to enjoy quite a bit and one of the lines reads like this. "This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through." The song goes on to say "my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue." I guess what woke me up in the middle of the night weeping was the thought this song suggests: I'm just not at home in this world anymore!

I had one of the nicest, and yet, strangest dreams about Christmas. It, of course, revolved around family and having them over to the house, and since it was a dream, all my parents and friends were there. I must say it was wonderful. We laughed and told jokes, ate and laughed some more. In the background was the old classic song playing, "I'll be home for Christmas." The only thing was, the song always stopped before the last line, "if only in my dreams." Now I am not here to do any sort of dream analysis, dreams are dreams. This one, though, gave me thoughts of what a Christmas might look like in Heaven, maybe! I mean really, My Mom and Dad were there with my daughter and her family, my siblings and their families and all the aunts, uncles and cousins and grandparents all around me and we were celebrating with Christ, Christmas.

Then as dreams sometimes do, this one took a hard turn that woke me up. We all walked to the door to go outside, and one by one, as all my loved ones, already dead, walked out the door, they were gone. All I was left with was a soggy pillow and the memories of sweet times in the past and of times to come.

I pray that you will enjoy this Christmas with whatever family you have left here on earth. The old song is right, this world is not our home, we are all just passin' through. As for me, I do have treasures laid up, somewhere beyond the blue, family and friends. I also have them here to enjoy and I plan to be HOME for Christmas and not only in my dreams. Remember that because of Christ, we can celebrate Christmas.