I Offered My All
By Jaime B. Volunteer in Uruguay
The days leading up to Christmas were very impactful. We thought of asking different friends if we could pray a Christmas rosary at their house. The idea was to bring the same Nativity scene to each friend’s house, sing Christmas songs between each mystery, and spend some time together. We started on December 16th and continued until the 24th, visiting different houses.
My part in the novena was to play the guitar and lead the songs, which, I have to admit, is not my strong suit. When I play and sing, I don’t always press the correct string hard enough or hit the right note with my voice. Nonetheless, as I was thinking about this, the lyrics of one of the songs I had chosen spoke to me. It was the Spanish version of The Little Drummer Boy. There’s a part that says:
“Yo quisiera poner a tus pies
Algún presente que te agrade, Señor,
Más tú ya sabes que soy pobre también,
Y no poseo más que un viejo tambor…
Cuando Dios me vio tocando ante Él, me sonrió.”
(I would like to lay at your feet
Some gift that you will accept, Lord,
But you know that I am also poor,
And I possess nothing more than an old drum…
When God saw me playing before Him, He smiled at me.)
Before this enlightenment, I had been thinking that I was playing poorly for God, that it was not good enough. I wanted to lay at His feet, like the song says, a gift that would please Him—a beautiful song—but my poor playing was all that I had. Then, the last lines of the song struck me, as if God Himself were consoling me: “When God saw me playing before Him, He smiled at me.”
To imagine this baby—given to us, God Himself—smiling and rejoicing at my music, not because of how beautiful or imperfect it was, but because I gave Him all that I had, was a profound experience. As my mission in Uruguay comes to an end in the next couple of months, I want to keep this image of baby Jesus smiling at me—not because I was such a good or bad missionary, but because I offered my all, at least for one and a half years, to Him.