December 19, 2009

Greetings My Friend,

Wow! Christmas is next week. Can you believe it? So my thoughts have been running along the same lines as last week…..Jesus…..being born in a stable…..humble start and humble life. This week my thoughts are toward the gift giving- parts of Christmas.

Part of the charm of Christmas is the Wise Men coming along and giving Jesus gifts. Through the years I have learned that the Wise Men more than likely showed up two years into Jesus’ life. They did not show up in the stable along with the Shepherds like we see portrayed all the time.

The Wise Men brought three gifts we know of. They brought gold, incense and myrrh. These gifts were of no value to a two year old. He could not play with them; his diapers were not able to be changed by them, no bottle to feed him. Mathew 2:13-15 states, “When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

God provided for this family. That’s what the gifts did. It gave them a means to support themselves in a foreign land. Somewhere along the way to modern times we have come to believe that Christmas is not really about Jesus. It is now given another name such as…..Holiday celebration….Winter Solstice and totally nothing with Jesus in the celebration.

My mind keeps going back to the gifts that were brought to Jesus. God provided for this family – what they needed, not fun, not showy, fancy etc. I also remember when the Israelites’ were led away from Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. God provided for His people there too. He placed it on the Egyptians hearts to give the Israelites’ gifts. They were given silver, gold and clothing. This is what the gifts were for; silver and gold were used as money to support the community. Clothes were given for people to wear. Again the gifts were “humble” gifts, not showy, fancy or piled high for the sake of a “ton” of gifts that would be forgotten and not used within hours or days.

Another time of gifts comes to mind. In the desert God provided “manna” for the people to eat. They had food provided by God for 40 years. Each morning when they woke up “manna” was on the ground for them to eat. Again, the gift was not fancy, showy or about gifts given for the sake of a ton of presents.

When my children were little…..I didn’t really buy a ton of gifts for them to open each Christmas. They had 7 aunts and uncles who gave gifts to them. They had two sets of grandparents who bought for them and a Great Grandma. I could not justify piling the room high with gifts. My love language is not about being given gifts, so I had a hard time with it. I still have a hard time with a whole lot of gifts. I like to open a few – very few – still I do like opening gifts on Christmas and on my birthday.

I am starting to believe that this giving a ton of gifts mentality is not good. I am starting to believe when we give so many gifts we may be creating a mindset that we are to be “given” everything in life. We are to be handed life on a silver platter and we don’t have to work for what we get. I don’t believe that is what God had in mind. He teaches in Scripture again…. 2Thessalonians 3:10 “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule, ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

God needs to be the one we rely on. When we are at the end of our rope, it should be to God we seek help, refuge. When my father’s parents walked out on my family after my Dad had polio, God gave my mother’s mother the heart to take us in. Our church provided food and clothing. My Mom went to work and we were given an income, later Dad went to work. God always provided for us. Sometimes he gave us people who took us under their wings and sometimes He gave my parents a job. Eventually though, we were to work. We were not on the hands of those who gave to us forever.

I believe that our gift giving should be “humble” not showy or fancy or even expensive for the sake of expensive. I believe we need to re-focus on Jesus and name Christmas as Christmas and if we do, I believe that our lives will truly be rich. Merry Christmas.

May God bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you.

Love

Janet