Gifts

Christmas just isn't the same any more...

Remember when there was mystery and magic. Reindeers tapping across your snow-covered roof. You thought you heard them as you forced yourself to fall asleep to the rhythm of your thumping heartbeat. And the gifts that awaited you...

Sometimes if you closed your eyes, real tight, and concentrated with all your might, you might hear him laugh, that jolly, bearded magician that somehow knew every act of kindness and every disobedience. You often wondered if your parents called him on the telephone at the end of November to give an account of your behavior. Or, did he really know, somehow really know who was naughty and who was nice. And the gifts you wanted...

Sugarplum fairies and marching toy soldiers, trees aglow with dazzles and brights. Glistening snow diamonds too much to count surrounding a house warm with smiles and cups of hot chocolate with marshmellows on top. And boxes and boxes wrapped to perfection. And gifts too numerous to count...

And then you grew and grew. The mystery, the magic, blown out like the flames on the colored candles that decorated your birthday cakes. Your thumping heartbeat replaced with a regular rhythm, a warmth in giving and a bittersweet companion--your memories when the gifts were for you...

Christmas became packages of sentiment wrapped in family gatherings, sometimes more heartache than throughout the year. Battling expectations and crowded department stores, too many people to buy for, and the fear of rejection and worthlessness always tugging at your sleeves that you roll up to work harder, to please. And you look at the gifts with a quiet contempt, boxed reminders of what you owe...

But Christmas isn't this. Christmas isn't these. Not reindeers, or Santa, or soldiers that march. Not families fixed on the rightness or wrongness of your life. Not two-for-one sales, or come and get them before they're gone. Past the mirrors, past the glass, seeing into eternity past, wrapped in the skin of a Savior, destined for sorrow and rejection. After the others have lost their meaning, function, message--this gift remains...

The hope of the world--the Prince of Peace--God's gift--Jesus Christ

Merry Christmas
Kathy