One of the joys in a Grandmother’s life is having grandchildren stay with her. I am no exception. One thing I constantly remember to be grateful for is how very close our children live. Through the years we have been able to spend time with these grandchildren…keep them when parents needed to work or had events to attend.

Our daughter in law homeschooled their children until middle school and high school. On Thursdays they went to classical conversation (when all homeschoolers gathered together for a day of study) Abigail, our youngest grandchild, came to stay with me.

What a joy those Thursdays were! We always went to Waxhaw to get Starbucks coffee and the free cookie at Harris Teeter. It was our field trip.

I have a beautiful Nativity that I put on a table in the living room. Abigail loved it. I put it out at Thanksgiving and don’t put it away until the end of January.

It never failed that when Abigail went home, all the figures of the Nativity were surrounding baby Jesus as if in a football huddle. It was a perfect circle. In the center was Jesus in the manger.

I never said anything to her. I thought it was sweet she had her own idea about how the Nativity should look.

One day, talking to our son Rob, I mentioned Abigail’s interest in changing the Nativity. He just began to laugh. He asked if all the figures were looking at Jesus. I said, “Yes”.

In their family devotions, Rob had been telling the children to “Keep their eyes on Jesus.” Abigail was positioning the Nativity figures to keep their eyes on Jesus. So I never changed the figures after that. I allowed Abigail to place them.

I always wonder and marvel at the ways large and small that Abba God shows up every day. It was a tender reminder that all of us would do so much better if we did just, “keep our eyes on Jesus”.