Enough Love

The drive from Reno to Las Vegas that Christmas in 1961 felt endless, especially to a five-and-a-half-year-old. But it would be hard to forget because it was the day after my brother Robbie’s funeral. He had died unexpectedly, though doctors had always warned he wouldn’t live long. He was born without a heart valve, so surgeons had implanted a pig’s valve when he was an infant. It kept him alive for six years before it failed, and he died on the operating table just days before Christmas.

I wasn’t allowed to attend the funeral, so I didn’t fully understand that he was gone. I thought he’d be home from the hospital when we arrived in Las Vegas. My mother had told us not to expect anything for Christmas—no gifts, tree, or dinner. Richard, my older brother, understood. I didn’t. I believed Santa, with God’s help, would still come.

The mood in the car was heavy. My father drove in silence. My mother occasionally wiped away tears. As we turned the final corner toward home, she reminded us again: no Christmas this year, just peanut butter sandwiches.

Then we walked inside.

The smell of turkey filled the air. A decorated tree stood in the window, and wrapped gifts spilled out underneath it. The kitchen table was piled high with letters and cards. My father, a beloved high school teacher and coach, had been remembered by students and their families, who had filled our home with Christmas.

Santa had come, but his name was Jesus, bringing love through others when we needed it most. My parents wept again, this time with gratitude. Even at five, I understood something powerful: God’s love doesn’t remove sorrow, but it does meet us in it. That Christmas, we had no doubt—God’s love truly was more than enough.

By Kathleen Cooke

With a childlike trust, write the one impossible thing you are trusting God for today and date it in your Bible.

This plan contains devotions adapted from Written in Heaven: His Story, Our Lives (A 40-Day Devotional) by Tamara Hester Battaglia.