The Wrong Gift

Can you believe it���s time to ask how everyone���s Christmas, 2014 was? That we���re a day from ringing in the New Year?

I hope your Christmas was blessed and family-full!

For our family of four, Christmas morning was a flurry of ripped wrapping paper, squeals of Lego delight, and moans of book-lover abandon.

But there was one hiccup in��our gift-opening Christmas morning.

The boys��� school has a small Christmas store each year.��The��students��can shop in ���secret��� and choose a gift for family members for��an inexpensive��price. The gifts are wrapped and delivered to the students a few days before Christmas break begins. We allow the boys to choose one gift for each family member (three total, with Chase opting for a fourth gift for our dog).

Usually the gifts are things like small candles (for me), a flashlight (for Trev), and some sort of ball or sports items for each other.

Christmas morning, Chase opened his school gift from Cole first, which was a dart gun promptly shot into the Christmas tree. When Cole opened Chase���s gift to him,��an odd��expression crossed our ten-year old���s face.

He looked up at Chase, then at us, in embarrassment.

���Why did you get me this?�����Cole’s voice was weak and surprised.

Chase, confused at his reaction, grabbed the gift and ripped it open the rest of the way. Chase let out a loud��cry when he pulled a Princess night-light out of the demolished wrapping paper.

���What? This isn���t what I got him!��� Chase���s face turned a mottled pink that nearly matched the unwanted night-light.

We did our best to defuse the situation, explaining��to them that an honest mistake was made amidst dozens of wrapped gifts at the school store.��Chase’s gift for Cole��was accidentally switched with a girl’s gift.

���A girl from school is probably disappointed right now too because she just opened a boy gift instead. It���s a mistake, guys, and it���s okay. You have other gifts to be thankful for.���

Chase still wore a defeated expression, and I reiterated to pre-teen, easily embarrassed Cole that his brother hadn���t actually chosen that pink gift for him.��They didn’t appreciate my��faux excitement about finally getting��the princess nightlight I’d always dreamed of, either.

The situation eventually��smoothed out, the��unwanted princess night-light forgotten.��But later that evening, when I had a few moments alone to think about the gift Jesus is and why we celebrate His birth,��I realized��something.

Like the pink nightlight, some reject Jesus because they believe He’s the wrong gift.��They believe they don’t need Him or that they’re fine on their own.

God’s Word tells a different story and��promises the right Gift.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”

(Romans 6:23).

We all — each of us — need Jesus. He is the perfect gift for every single human being, the��necessary heavenly��Gift who bridges the gap to our Creator God.

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

(Galatians 4: 4 & 5)

As you enter the New Year, remember that Jesus is the right gift. That He gives��believers hope, forgiveness, and grace for each new day.

“This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ.” ~ Frank McKibben

Filed under: Musings Tagged: candidkerry, Christmas, Christmas gift, gift of Jesus, Jesus, Romans 6:23