A Short Christmas Poem about Smiling

This is a short Christmas poem about smiling - of all things!

If you sometimes don't feel like smiling at Christmas, don't worry. It's not about you and me having to put on a fake smile. Instead of giving, how about receiving some smiles?

Especially in difficult times.

32. My Christmas Gift Prayer

     by Paul Berchtold, December, 2010

The Word became Flesh, so the bible reads,
But what I think this world now needs,
Are smiles from heaven become so real,
With hearts and hands, our pains to feel.

And that's what happened on Christmas morn,
When a little baby was quietly born,
He couldn't say a word, so he sweetly smiled,
At Mary and Joseph, both gentle and mild.

Later he taught us by his life and what he said,
Then he died, and rose up from the dead,
On to heaven he showed us the way,
And then we don't hear him again to this day.

My prayer for you is to gratefully receive,
The best gift that anyone could possibly conceive,
A Christmas surprise that lasts forever true,
May Jesus and Mary always smile on you.

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             Poems by Paul Berchtold
      © Copyright - All rights reserved.
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You are welcome to use and share this poem, provided you follow the Poem Terms and Conditions.

About the Poem

The ideas for this poem are taken from the end of a longer 23 verse Advent poem.

As I was finishing it, I wrote this short Christmas poem.

Here's the longer Advent poem from which it is taken. It's called The Missing Ingredient.


Short Enough for a Card

This short Christmas poem is only 4 verses long, so it can fit nicely in a Christmas greeting card.


Inspiration Even in Tough Times

Christmas can be a happy time. But some years, the holidays can be painful.

For many people, the holidays bring painful memories. And for others, they're going through really tough times.

Missing loved ones, sickness, death - these are painful facts of life, and it really never gets easier. By the time you've spun around the globe a few times, you pretty much know what I mean. As much as we'd like to stay, we start looking forward to a better world.

But there is a way our burdens can be made bearable. And usually not on our own. The Lord says, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you." (Matthew 11:28)


My own Mother - and Her Last Christmas Card

Years ago, I lost my mother to cancer just a few weeks before Christmas.

11 months earlier, I had been in the hospital for 2 major surgeries in another state. It was right after Christmas, and my mother mother sent me a letter, and a Christmas card with Madonna and Child. It was plain green and white. My favorite color is green, but not this color green, kind of an olive green.

The card showed Mary smiling and the child sleeping.

My mother wrote me a letter also, and noted the smile on Mary's face.

As plain as that card was, to this day - almost 30 years later - I must admit I don't think I have ever seen a smile as beautiful as that. I kept that card and letter for many years, and looked at it often. Unfortunately, I don't have the card now, but this is a very precious memory.

Her smile was very, very gentle. Simple. Sweet. Very soft and relaxed. The baby she was holding was asleep.

It was the last Christmas card and letter I got from my mother.

In fact, I am writing this on the 27th anniversary of my mother passing away from cancer, which happened less than a year later after my hospitalization and getting her card and letter - and which happened right before the following Christmas.

If you can relate, if this is an especially difficult time for you, from my heart I truly wish you the blessing and prayer of this poem, and that you experience the peace that passes all understanding. (Philippians 4:7)

I think in God's providence, he really knew I needed the encouragement of that beautiful smile, having spent many days in a lot of pain in a hospital hundreds of miles from home. And he knew that I wouldn't have another Christmas on earth with my mother.

And no doubt, he knew that years later, this story about the smile would be part of the inspiration behind this short Christmas poem, to encourage many others.

Thank you, Mom !!! You're one of my stars.


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