I’m looking for Ah-ha moments this Christmas. As I unloaded boxes and bags from the Webster Cheer Team, I realized how important these moments are. The girls had donated snacks, spa and hygiene items, socks, notebooks, games. These would go into Resilience care boxes that we would deliver to those who are walking through a broken place. When I opened the last bag, I found handmade cards from the girls, and I wiped tears. Those girls got it. During my time with them, they told me why this kind of giving meant so much. “Cancer is in my family, and I want to help someone else who is going through it.
Cancer makes people sad, and it hurts. I want to make them smile and not be sad.”
I remembered their words spoken with hearts so pure and tender. They wanted to help people in need, and instantly Mom’s words came back to me. “Reach the students, Lisa. Reach the kids. They have pure hearts, and with an Ah-ha moment they can change the world!”
These girls had received that Ah-ha moment. Mom knew how important this was. She was a piano teacher and loved those moments of discovery with her students. Once, when she was teaching a student who was struggling through a piece, I listened as the student played it over and over, stopping in the same place, frustrated at the difficult section. Mom patiently gave her an easy way to understand how to move through it, and the student played the piece flawlessly. They both shouted for joy, clapped, and laughed. “I did it!” The student shouted, and I peeked in. Mom was beaming over that wonderful Ah-ha moment.
Those girls who gave the items and made cards reminded me that many times we don’t recognize students as world changers, but they are. 
The hour I spent with those world-changing girls meant so much to me. Many families are facing tight resources these days, but these girls gave so that others could have a few minutes to breathe in hope and know they aren’t walking alone. I felt proud, like Mom, beaming with joy that they had discovered a way to help others move through a tough place in life.
The hour I spent with those world-changing girls meant so much to me. Many families are facing tight resources these days, but these girls gave so that others could have a few minutes to breathe in hope and know they aren’t walking alone. I felt proud, like Mom, beaming with joy that they had discovered a way to help others move through a tough place in life. When I packed up the Resilience care boxes and saw the handmade cards on top, I prayed this team of girls would know the impact of what they had done. Realizing they can lessen the pain of someone who is walking through a broken place is an Ah-ha moment. I received a thank you from one recipient of a care box that contained the items and handmade card from these girls. It says it all:
“You made me feel like somebody cared as I walk through the loneliest journey of my life. Cancer. As I read the card on top of my box, my eyes filled with tears. I can get through this. Somebody is cheering for me. Thank you for giving me not just a box of great things that are helping me, but a box of hope. I feel hope for the first time since my diagnosis. Thank you.”
These are the Ah-ha moments that not only change someone else, but they change us. As we enter the Christmas season, it’s easy to get 
swept away by the swirling busyness of it all—going to parties, black Friday shopping, wrapping, cooking, trying to fit life in the middle of the preparations. We can get exhausted before it’s even begun!
swept away by the swirling busyness of it all—going to parties, black Friday shopping, wrapping, cooking, trying to fit life in the middle of the preparations. We can get exhausted before it’s even begun!What if this season, we look at it all through a different lens, and look for those Ah-ha moments? Discover them ourselves, and then pay it forward in small ways that make a big difference. A smile can even be an Ah-ha for someone and can change an entire day. I don’t want to fill my life with emptiness that robs me of those Ah-ha moments, especially the most magnificent one of all: the birth of our Savior. The reason we celebrate.
As I look back on what God has done this year through Lisa Bain Ministries. I see many Ah-ha moments. Each was like a gift He wrapped and handed over to be opened. Christmas all year. I like that, and I want to keep that spirit of knowing He has Ah-ha moments for me along the way. I want to pay those moments forward, like with the world-changing girls from Webster High School. Sometimes the most beautiful Ah-ha is sitting back and watching God turn broken places into beautiful ones.
I’m so thankful for the Ah-ha moments, and for the birth of Jesus, the biggest Ah-ha of all.
Merry Ah-ha Christmas, friends!