The perfect gift doesn't come wrapped up with a bow
“… the gift of God is eternal life.”#8212; Romans 6:23 (NIV)
Recently, while reminiscing over some of my favorite Christmas memories, a special one crossed my mind.
The kids were little then, and for weeks I had been buried under the usual Christmas activities. I ran down my list of requests each child had given me for gifts and carefully checked the sales fliers for the best bargains around.
I stole away a few hours whenever I got the chance, nearly exhausting myself as I drove from store to store to make each Christmas wish a reality.
Being a housewife and tending to an infant and two young boys didn't give me much time for wrapping the presents I'd bought. Time had escaped me and Christmas Eve had arrived. Once the children were nestled and fast asleep, I pulled the bag of toys I bought for them from my bedroom closet to commence wrapping.
I carried the bags into the living room and methodically sorted each child's gifts into piles across the floor. I placed rolls of wrapping paper, cellophane tape and name tags by each one.
After a few hours of wrapping and taping, I stood back and gazed at the presents bundled in colorful paper. I enjoyed the array of green, red and gold wrappings, entertaining designs of silver bells, angels and snowmen on them. With each package positioned around the tree it looked like a picture-perfect Christmas.
At the crack of dawn I was awakened by the sound of paper rattling. It was coming from the living room. I nudged my husband to wake up. Then I threw on my robe and rushed to the living room hoping to catch a few moments of the kids opening their presents.
#8220;Hi, Mommy,#8221; my 3-year-old son, Tim, said with a big smile. My heart sunk in disappointment when I noticed the piles of wrapping paper surrounding him. He had unwrapped every single gift! Not only his gift, but everyone else's as well!
As I stood there trying to decide how to handle the situation, my 5-year-old entered the room and started playing with some toys. He didn't appear to be bothered at all by the fact the gifts had been unwrapped.
Seeing their joy, I recalled the true delight of the holiday wasn't my perfectly wrapped packages, instead it was God's wondrous gift of forgiveness from our sins and wrongdoings and an eternal life in heaven through belief in our savior, Jesus Christ.
I decided to jump in and enjoy our family celebration and thanked God for unwrapping the perfect Christmas gift.
When things don't go exactly as we've planned them at Christmas, we can decide not to allow it to spoil our joy and the true meaning of Christmas. Instead we can relax and reflect on the gift God has given us.
Whatever your circumstances may be this year, I wish each of you a blessed Christmas.
#8226; Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach, and nurse. She can be contacted at Annetteebudzban@aol.com.