The Gift

This is undoubtedly the season for giving, and one of the most commonly asked question this week and next is "are you ready for Christmas?" - i.e. have you completed your shopping?  Well, I am glad to report, based on that notion, I am no where close to being ready.  The pressure is now on.  I do realize I am responsible for a lot of that pressure.

I like giving gifts.  I love watching the expressions on the faces of people I give gifts to, especially the children.  The joy and excitement, the look of wonder and surprise, the look of thankfulness, etc.  Those expressions are very important to me, because I like to see people happy, hence the pressure.  I  am the type of person that likes to find the best gift available to give, therefore I am not easily satisfied, and it makes shopping somewhat challenging.  I try my hardest to figure out what each person would really like at Christmas and I am always afraid that the gift is not the "perfect" gift from me.

Anyway, tonight I had an interesting revelation come to me.  I thought about gifts and what it meant.  This may sound kind of silly but it made sense to me tonight.  A gift from me comes from my heart, something sincere; so even though it may not be the "perfect" gift or one of the best gifts of the year, it is still my best gift.  I understand that the recipient of the gift may or may not like what I got, and may even return it the next day, still it is from me.  Like the old saying goes "it is from the heart."  That helped me relax a little and hopefully I can now finish finding gifts.

I also began to think further and reflected on what this season means.  All over the world people will exchange gifts during this season.  I wonder how many of them realize where this whole idea of giving came from.  I started thinking of the first Christmas and of the gifts that Jesus got; gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Each of these gifts revealed something about Jesus and what He came to do.  Then I thought about The Gift himself, Jesus.  He came to seek and save us, and He did it by dying on a cross.  Not matter what people do to discredit what this season means, Jesus is truly the reason for the season.  He came to bring the perfect gift - the gift of life (God and sinners reconciled).

I am saddened to think, here I am trying to find the best gift out there for people and my fear that it is still not the best, that Jesus came to this earth, demonstrated His love, sacrificed His life to give us the perfect gift, yet He is still rejected.  The heart behind the gifts I give don't even come close to what Jesus gives but more often than not the gifts we bring are much more appreciated.

I wrote a song a few years back and I was reminded of it while writing this:

The hope of life

The hope of love

You died on a tree

So I could be free

A love so beautiful

A love so pure

A life so rich

A life worth living for

Amazing grace

Never to far

For a wreck like me

To live eternally

Jesus, Jesus

Savior, Redeemer

My prayer this season is that we will all remember the significance of giving and the greatest Gift of all, Jesus.