Life IS a vapor!

     I am sitting at my desk looking at some photographs I took over the holidays. Some are just pictures. Some are memories. Several of the memories are of my girls sitting in the lap of Santa Claus. We had visited several Kris Kringles at Walmart, the grocery store, the mall, etc.

Reagan, our two-year-old, did not want to have anything to do with any of the jolly, fat men in the white beard and red suit. “I scared,” she would say.

Holly, our ten-year-old, showed signs of embarrassment at the mention of sitting on Santa’s lap in front of all those people.

On the other hand, our six-year-old, Autumn, had put her Christmas order in with every man she saw wearing red clothes.

One particular Santa was the exception. The pictures I took of him with my girls are very special. He was the first Santa with which Reagan would have anything to do. She went right to him, climbed up in his lap, and gave him a big hug. What a picture that made! It was the beginning of a new era in her life with which we would share.

But I have another picture that is burning a memory in my mind. Holly, who had skipped visiting the previous Santas, timidly sat down with this kind, old gentleman. What I saw brought a lump to my throat. My oldest baby was growing up. She was not a little girl anymore. In the picture Holly is giving Santa a good-bye hug. And that was probably just what it really was; “Good-bye” to the Santa Claus era.

This reminds me of what James wrote concerning the brevity of our life; “It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (Ja. 4:14). Life on earth is indeed short. The passing of family traditions is a stark reminder of this.

How many periods of time come and go of which we fail to take advantage? If we are not careful, we will take that time for granted. 

How many loving children have been pushed away by the busy parent who said, “I do not have time right now.” Those parents will one day open their eyes and realize the era of a child’s hug has ended. They now have the time, but their children are the ones who are too busy. 

Do the words, “Not right now,” “In a little while,” or, “Maybe tomorrow,” haunt anyone besides myself?

Please excuse me while I go to get a drink of water. There seems to be a lump stuck in my throat.