Christmas Eve…

The presents sit silently beneath the tree…

All of them beautiful…

(Except for the ones I wrapped.)

I wonder which presents are for me?

I’ll just look at the tags…

The package on top…for our daughter.

Next to it… a package for my wife…

And then there is the biggest box under the tree…

Since it’s the biggest gift…

Could it be the greatest gift?

Turning over the tag…

I see my name!

What could it be?

I shake the box…

Nothing rattles…

I pick it up…

It is heavy.

A door closes on the other end of the house….

My wife comes in from the garage.

Returning the package to its place…

I stand innocently as if admiring the beauty of the tree.

Christmas morning arrives!

With all the excitement of a 5-year-old, I wait to open my presents…

My daughter opens hers first….

Then my wife …

Finally it is my turn..

I rip the wrapping from the box…

And open it to find…

Uh… actually I don’t know what was in the box.

I don’t remember!

That Christmas was many years ago.

Here’s what I do remember…

Christmas wrapping and empty boxes litter the room as my wife and I picked up torn wrapping paper and empty boxes…

“Look!” My wife says.

“One more present. A present for you.””

In the middle of the mess…

Almost buried under the ripped paper…

A small box…

Containing a daily devotional.

Many years later I can’t remember what was in the big box…

All I remember is that one small gift….

That unassuming gift…

The gift almost lost in the mess of the day…

But I remember it today…

Because over the years It has moved me closer to God.

How like the gift of Christmas itself…

A seemingly small gift…

A child…

For unto us a child is born…   Isaiah 9:6

A child born not in a grand palace but in a meager manger…

and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.   Luke 2:7

A newborn child…

Almost unnoticed in the noise of the world…

But available to all who sought him then and seek him now…

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby… Luke 2:16

A newborn child who offers us a path back to God…

 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  John 14:6

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16  

And that is the greatest gift of all …

 

Note: the original version of this post appeared in December, 2015