The Little Drummer Boy

There is a woman who writes a column for the local paper who I usually enjoy reading. I like her because she's a flaky blonde and she admits that she's a flaky blonde, so she can have fun with it. Anyway, she writes relatively entertaining columns about girly things most of the time, but once a year, around Christmas time, she goes on a total rampage about the Little Drummer Boy. She goes on and on about how she hates that song and how there was no little drummer boy at the first Christmas or in the Nativity scenes, etc. She really hates that song. I feel differently, however, and thought that this year I would write about all of the things that are right about it.

Okay, for those of you who don't know, the Little Drummer Boy is a song about a poor little boy who hears about the birth of Jesus and wants to go see him. He doesn't have a gift to give that is worthy of a king, in fact, the only thing he has is his drum. So, he decides that he will give the baby the gift of music. He goes to visit the baby Jesus and plays Him a song on his drum and the baby Jesus smiles at him, as if to say that it was a good song and He enjoyed it, as if to say thank you for the gift.

Now, I can see where a person would get caught up in the idea that there was no little drummer boy in the original Christmas story (although, since the Biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus span two years, it would be difficult to say that no little drummer boy visited Him during that time). [Personally, I think a better argument for not liking the song is that fact that it is kind of annoying.] People who get caught up in that fact, though, are missing the point of the song. You see, no matter who we are, we are all poor in comparison to the God of the universe. We have nothing to give Him that He has not already given us. We all, like the little drummer boy approach Him with only the gifts that He has given to us and offer them back to Him. The little drummer boy had the gift of music, so that is what he gave, and God was grateful. It pleased Him. He smiled. Here's the moral of the story: Even if you are poor, you can give gifts to God that please Him. He will accept anything that you offer to Him. And if you give Him whatever you have, be it money or time or music or whatever, He will smile.