For King and Country's Song - "Little Drummer Boy"
My all-time favorite classic Christmas song has got to be the Little Drummer Boy. If I’m listening to this song and start to think too much about it, I start to well up with tears. Every time.
My sons occasionally ask me why this is my favorite Christmas song.
“It’s stupid and it doesn’t make sense,” they say.
I answer like this: “This song is about a little boy who’s very poor. And he wants to bring Jesus a gift, but he doesn’t have anything to give Him. And so he gives the baby Jesus the only gift he has to give – a song. And this poor boy is drumming his little heart out for the Lord, because that’s all he has to give. But it’s enough. And the baby Jesus smiles.”
Usually, I am trying to hold back tears as I share this with my sons (like I am right now as I write this). But they simply reply that it's still stupid, and they run off to play.
But that’s okay.
I don’t expect them to get it yet.
And in some ways, I almost hope they don’t ever have to “get it.”
Because I think truly understanding the beautiful heart of the little drummer boy can only come through pain, heartache, and loss. It comes when we’ve been repeatedly knocked down so badly that we can barely get up again. It comes when we lose all confidence in ourselves, in our ability to make life what we want it to be, to keep all the balls up in the air, to fix the things that are broken. It comes when we truly learn that we are poor and broken and have nothing to offer God.
Nothing except ourselves. Our hearts. Our love.
These are the gifts that make Jesus smile. When we come to Him as we are – poor, broken, vulnerable, weak, humble. When we come to Him with all that is in us – the heartache, the questions, the fears, the imperfections, the neediness, the fill in the blank.
This is all He asks of us. All He really wants from us.
He just wants … us. As we are. Poor, broken, needy, helpless, and weak.
And that's okay with Him. That's exactly how He wants us to come to Him. That's exactly what He wants us to give Him. The broken pieces. The unpolished, raw, real, messy parts of ourselves.
We don't have to be ashamed of who we are. That we have nothing to give Him. That we're a mess or not good enough. We just need to come to Him as we are and give Him our real selves, our hearts, trusting Him to love us and accept us and forgive us and heal us and help us grow in Him. Trusting Him to take the "nothing" that we have - the ugly, broken pieces that we hold onto - and to turn them into something beautiful.
I am the Little Drummer Boy, with nothing to offer Jesus but my heart, my praise, my passionate devotion. And even if the only song I have, the only drumming I do, is the sound of my tears hitting the pillow, my knees hitting the floor, and my heart beating close to His … that’s good enough. And Jesus smiles.
And so, here it is:
