Josh Groban - Little Drummer Boy

Okay, I said I'd try to blog about what I like about Christmas, so here's one thing:  I like The Little Drummer Boy.  Not so much the song. In fact, the song kind of bugs.  It goes on for a long time and the melody is pretty obnoxious.  I won't even say that I like the lyrics, because they're pretty monotonous and boring.  What I do like is the message.  When I'm in just the right mood, and things are quiet, and I haven't been beat to death with other annoying Christmas music, I think about how the drummer boy really only does one thing well, and he doesn't even do that one thing all that well, but he really wants to give Jesus something for His birth, so he does what he can.  He plays.  Maybe not super well, and Jesus doesn't really need a song, but the drummer boy gives what he can.  You can even think about the story in terms of the fact that the drummer boy really gave Jesus nothing, because Jesus gave him the drum and the ability.  What matters most though, is that the boy is humble and wants to give Jesus something back.

A lot of the time, I feel like the drummer boy.  Jesus gives me talents and abilities.  I'm really only mediocre at what I do.  I want to do things for Jesus, but nothing will ever come close to equaling what He did for me, so I take the talent He gave me and try to help other people.  I know I don't really do much, but I'm trying to, and I think that's what Jesus really wants: for me to try and give what I can.  It's all really humbling when I think about it.  He gives His life for me, and I write something nice occasionally.  It's not really what I would call a fair trade, but what part of the Atonement is really all that fair?  It makes me feel grateful, and a little small to know that a being such as Jesus loves me enough to allow me to make a trade with Him like that.

To be honest, and this will probably knock a little off of the manliness I have shown on this blog, if I'm in just the right humble mood, and I'm alone, and I'm not sick of Christmas music, and The Drummer Boy comes on with Josh Groban, or some other great musician, I occasionally cry.  Okay, now I'll go and watch football or something.

Here's, in my opinion, the best version of the song: