Gifts

I just had a couple of observations about Christmas gifts this year. The first is regarding the kids’ presents.

One memory I have of Christmas as a child is how the Christmas tree always seemed to get swallowed up by the presents surrounding it.  It always seemed like such an abundance of presents. Of course, it had to be a lot when you have a family of seven. But here this year we opened some gifts on Sunday evening when Nana and Grandpa were here. We opened stocking gifts on Christmas Eve. And even at that, there seemed to be so many of them. And most of them were for the kids, who would usually be perfectly content to go and play with the first present they open. In fact, one of the first gifts we opened was a toy for Isaiah. All of the kids were immediately drawn to it and we had to pull it away so we could get on with the unwrapping. What I’m getting at is how the kids receive more than they can possibly comprehend (and certainly more than they need).

I think I understand what that’s like though. I’m now thinking about the gifts that we have received from the members of our congregation. It’s just hard to comprehend such generosity. It’s more than we need. It’s so much more than what we deserve.

In that sense then, our gift-receiving at Christmas is not that much different than Christmas itself. Think about it, who could really grasp the full weight and value of the gift given? "A Savior has been born to you." Can we even begin to comprehend what that’s worth? It’s so much more than we deserved. Can we understand what would lead God to be so generous as to give his only Son? It’s just so overwhelming.