Gifts

Some Christmases are better than others. Plain and simple. Some years we will remember forever, other years just melt into a collective memory of Christmases gone by.

Think back to one of those memorable Christmases of your past. Chances are, it was great because of a gift (or gifts) that you received. Christmas 1985 was the year of the Transformers for me. I was right in the heart of Transformers the first time around. I must have received 10,000 Transformers that year. I got Optimus Prime and Bumblebee and Starscream and some giant thing that turned from a motorized train to a robot that walked (kind of). In my birthday pictures just a few weeks later I can be seen holding up my cake and a couple of robot planes.

If I look at more recent Christmases, the picture changes a little. I don't remember the gifts I received as much as the gifts I gave. Christmas 2005 was the first year I worked at East End Christian Church. Instead of spending money on presents for my family back home, I made a video collage of some of the folks at EECC and spent that money on gifts for them. My family got pictures of some of those folks and I asked that they would pray for them. I've seen my family cry plenty of times, but that was the first time I felt so good about it.

At some point we grow up to realize that Christmas is really more about giving than receiving. When we we realize that this same principle applies to much more than just Christmas?