She has an old bag over her shoulder, stuffed full of goodies, and stops in front of me. Pretends to knock on an invisible door between us.

“Open the door, Mom!”

I pretend to open the door. Chamberlain bounces in giddy enthusiasm.

“I have presents for you!” she announces. “Guess what they are!”

We play this game all the time.“Is it…a baby doll? Is it…tiramisu? Is it…a nap?”

Ha ha. Mom is hysterical.

“Nooo…” she giggles, grinning, swinging the bag. “It starts with Y,” she whispers, trying to help.

“Oh! Is it…yarn? Is it…a yellow crayon?”

“No!! It’s…an ALLIGATOR!”

Of course. Maybe she meant a Yalligator.

The new year is upon us, and all sorts of things knock at its door. We make lists and goals and resolutions to do more, be more, read more, earn more, give more. We are ambitious and hopeful. But by the end of the year, we are always surprised – maybe a little discouraged by what we didn’t accomplish as our ambition diminished around June or so, but also buoyed by the things that we did achieve that we never realized were possibilities at the beginning of the year.

Cham comes back with a bunch of stuffed animals, and knocks on the invisible door between us.

“Open it, Mom!”

I do, and she starts to hand me stuffed animals.

“Wait!” I tell her. “You’re supposed to tell me who you are and what you’re bringing me. Are you from the bakery again? Are you bringing food?”

She thinks for a second and assumes her squeakiest pretend voice.

“Hi. I’m Chamberwain Gewa, and -” she starts piling more buddies into my lap “- I left half of the babies at home because they’re sick but their daddy is with them and I hafta run to the store so you need ta watch these ones for me until I get back.”

“Am I…the grandma?”

She sighs. “Yes!!!” Hence the lack of introduction when she knocked on my door.

We know – as you do, too – that not everything that knocks on the door of the new year will announce itself with good manners or a sweet smile or give us time to prepare for its arrival. Some things that knock on the door we will simply refuse to answer, knowing that not everything it wants to dump in our lap is healthy for our family. But overall, we know – as I hope you do, too – that we can have great expectations for what’s ahead.

I do not advise that we end the year on a somber note. The march, not the dirge, has ever been the music of Christianity. If we are good students in the school of life, there is much that the years have to teach us. But the Christian is more than a student, more than a philosopher. He is a believer, and the object of his faith makes the difference, the mighty difference. Of all persons the Christian should be best prepared for whatever the New Year brings. He has dealt with life at its source. In Christ he has disposed of a thousand enemies that other men must face alone and unprepared. He can face his tomorrow cheerful and unafraid because yesterday he turned his feet into the ways of peace and today he lives in God. The man who has made God his dwelling place will always have a safe habitation.

– A.W. Tozer, The Warfare of the Spirit

The man who has made God his dwelling place will always have a safe habitation.

Not to do more, be more, earn more, but to find Him more. He stands with us at the threshold of every day, shining the light in, asking the hardest questions in the gentlest manner.

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:33

And everything else comes with Him.

Maybe even a Yalligator…and a nap.
_______

This is an excerpt from Growing, book 3 in Work That God Sees: Prayerful Motherhood in the Midst of the Overwhelm.