The shepherds went back to their flocks,
glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
It was just as the angel had told them.

Luke 2:19

I had every intention of blogging this on Christmas day, but somehow the day got away from me. And then the same thing happened on Boxing Day (which was kind of Christmas Pt. 2 around here with our extended family in town for dinner and gifts).

So here I am, on the 27th of December finally blogging the final blog of my Advent Calendar.

I think this final verse of the Shepherd’s story is so appropriate as Christmas 2011 wraps up. Because of that line “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” You see, the Shepherds took this experience with them into the rest of their lives. I like to imagine them sitting on a hill watching over the flocks years later, telling the story again because what they had seen and heard was so beautiful they just couldn’t stop glorifying and praising God.

That’s my hope for me and for you each Christmas. That as we have encountered the birth of Christ once again, as we have sung the songs and heard the stories, we would be changed by it. That what we have heard and seen would be so beautiful that it becomes part of our daily lives – that we go about glorifying and praising God because of it.

Then maybe Christmas 2011 wouldn’t be over. It would instead dwell within us and travel with us each day throughout the year to come until this season rolls round again. That is my prayer for each of us as the days continue to pass by.