I could not wait to get home Tuesday night.

For King and Country was playing on CMA Christmas. 

This Christian pop duo was performing their rendition of The Little Drummer Boy.

Did you know that the first recorded version of this song was in 1951 and was performed by the Trapp Family Singers?  

Yes, the same family that inspired the Sound of Music.

The Little Drummer Boy has been performed by a variety of artists over the years, from Bing Crosby to Johnny Cash, The Brady Bunch to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Bob Dylan to Justin Beiber.

But this is my favorite version of the popular Christmas song.

And it is not just because I fangirl over Joel and Luke Smallbone.

The inspiring performance to an audience of believers and non believers alike Tuesday night brought the lyrics to life for me in a new way.

For King and Country was not performing a song.

They were truly offering their gifts to our King.

And they played their best for Him like I have never seen before.

It literally gave me chills and brought me to tears at the same time.

The song that I have heard since childhood stirred inside me and forced me to search my heart in a deeper way.

What do I have that is fit to offer our King?

What could I possibly offer that He would want?

[ What God Wants ] “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? He wants you to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him. He wants you to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.”  Deuteronomy 10:12 NLV

 “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  Deuteronomy 6:5 NLV

God simply wants us to love Him.

That is a gift each one of us can offer to our King. 

Do I really play my best for Him?

What does my best look like to our Creator? 

 “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.  Matthew 5: 43-47 MSG

Friends, these are questions not just to ask on the day we celebrate our Savior’s birth, but each and every day.

What do we have that is fit to offer our King?

Do we play our best for Him?

Our love for Him and for each other is the present that we can all offer our King.

Let’s offer our best to Him today.

“Whatever work you do, do it with all your heart. Do it for the Lord and not for men.”

Colossians 3: 23 NLV

It was seven pages of a heart conversation.

An expression of love and gratitude written from my mother to hers.

The letter was dated December 31, 1958.

It seemed so fitting to find it on Thanksgiving Eve.

This treasure surfaced last night as I was searching for old pictures.

There is just something about seeing my mother’s handwriting….

Insert ugly crying here.

Before texting and emails, there was the lost art of letter writing.

As I read her words, I could hear her voice narrating the letter aloud as if she were sitting right beside me.

She was in “sentimental mood” as she put it, missing those she could not be with during the holiday season.

I know this ache.

Many of you know it, too.

So she did what I always knew my mother to do: she put her thoughts on paper.

Sometimes her thoughts came in the form of a letter, sometimes a poem.

But they always came from her heart.

Heart conversations to those she loved.

This particular letter had been addressed to my grandmother, Mom’s brother Dick and his wife Jane, and their two children, Dicky and Faye.

She had a word for each of them.

Pride for Dick, for the husband and father he was, with a “wonderful faith in God and mankind.”

Love for his wife, Jane for teaching her about the virtue of patience.

And a heartfelt poem to my grandmother, because “they have not yet thought up words to describe you.”

She was grateful for each one of them in her life and took the time to tell them just that.

Paul wrote letters as well.

He had a word for God’s people and shared his gratitude for their role in sharing the Good News.

Heart conversations.

“Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.  Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.  And I am certain that God, who began a good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News.  God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1: 3 – 8

Friends, words of love and gratitude are timeless.

And on this Thanksgiving Day, know from the bottom of my heart I give thanks to my God for all of you.

Blessings in heaps!