Friday of the First Week of Advent
You will show me the path of life
in your presence there is fullness of joy,
and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:11
“So, St. Nicholas made a visit,” announces my daughter with just a hint of irony.
“Really.”
“He left chocolate and everything.”
“Wow. How about that?”
My daughter and I are playacting. She knows I am the one who put the chocolate coins in her shoes for her to discover this morning. I know she knows, and she knows that I know she knows. But it is tradition. In our house, St. Nicholas always leaves chocolate coins in the shoes on his feast day.
When my daughters were very young, I wanted them to know St. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, and the precursor to Santa Claus. I wanted them to know of his love for children and the poor, how he devoted himself to Christ by choosing to care for those who were sick and suffering, how he lived his life by loving others with courage and grace.
I wanted to introduce them to many saints, whose lives inspire us. Not because the saints were perfect; but because they were men and women, boys and girls who loved God and through that love were able to touch the lives of those around them in extraordinary ways.
Having giving St. Nicholas his due, my daughter gives me a hug, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I respond, grateful beyond words that my teenager offers me this gift of herself and knowing that St. Nicholas has truly visited us this morning.
Read more about St. Nicholas
Image credit: Baloncici / 123RF Stock Photo
Copyright Anne E. Kitch 2013
