The Perfect Gift

 

 

A couple of days ago, I sat down with four of my daycare children and gave them the gifts I had so carefully purchased for them. I knew I had found each of them the perfect gift..they would love them, I was sure!

For three of them, it seemed I did. One little girl said "It's just what I've always wanted!" Her older sister seemed in awe..."How did you know I LOVE horses?", while the youngest girl, not even two, clutched her new doll to her chest and her whole face lit up..."Mine!"
It made me happy inside to see their excitement and smiles.
Then came the fourth child. He tore open his gift, the one so thoughtfully wrapped with him in mind...but instead of a smile he angrily tossed the gift aside and said with a whine..."Awww...it's not lego starwars!" He crossed his arms and a scowl marked his young eight year old face.  He sat there pouting and I sat there, jaw dropped!

I have to admit it made me angry. To think the gift I had so carefully chosen for him, thinking he would love it; that it would be so carelessly tossed aside like a piece of garbage..that hurt!

It reminded me of something else. Christmas is but a few days away and if it were not for Jesus, there would be no Christmas. He  is the "reason for the season"
God sent his only son to be born in Bethlehem.
The Perfect Gift, wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger...in what would normally be used for the animals feeding trough.  Humble beginings for a King.
God knew that one day the baby Jesus would grow to be a man, and that one day that man would give his life for us all. He would die a brutal death on a cross, so that we; each and every one would in turn have eternal life...His gift to us...His perfect gift if we accept it.

Yet so often we go through the Christmas season losing our focus. We are busy and stressed, trying to get it all done, house cleaned and decorated, baking done, meal planned while we try to find that perfect gift for our loved ones. We can so easily forget the reason that we even have Christmas and it's Jesus.

What will we do this Christmas with the most Perfect Gift?  It's up to us.
We can cast it aside; rejected or we can embrace Him...God's perfect gift to us..Jesus!  The reason for the season.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.