Christmas gifts

Circa December 25, 2011

I simply wanted to make a Christmas post.

The Christmas season (and Christmas in particular) seemed to sneak up on me this year.  Another has come and gone.  Time to reflect fondly on the food and festivities which are now past; time to look forward to the use of the presents we have received and reliving the memories which have been made.  But only now that everything has died down.  Christmas, for many, has become one of the most hectic and stressful times of the year:  there are presents to buy, events to plan, visits to make, treats to prepare...

As I retreated to my room after all had calmed, I realized that I still had one gift I had failed to acknowledge throughout the day.  Every Christmas, nestled behind all the trees and presents, the lights and the shopping, lies a babe in a manger.  Instead of festive paper and a gaudy bow, he is wrapped in swaddling clothing.  Yes, quiet as the child who made no crying as he spent his first night in a stable is the message of the birth of the Savior throughout each Christmas season.

So often it seems time is spent focused on what can or will be gained each year at about this time.  It also seems to me that of more worth is to reflect on what was gained on a silent night some two millennia ago when the Christ child was born.  Through the birth of Jesus Christ, we received his ministry and his sacrifice.  Through the ministry of Jesus Christ, we gained the purest of doctrine, the blueprints for a happy life, and a perfect example of how to live one.  Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we gained the ability to feel peace, to overcome ourselves and our circumstance, and his resurrection.  Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we gained life beyond this, and a chance at eternal happiness.  Truly he has given us more than any other, as he has given us all that he was and the opportunity to gain all that he has.

As I sit here Christmas night, I truly am grateful for a gift that we all have received freely—a gift that gave and keeps on giving.  And although we have received much without a cost, yet more is available if we are but willing to pay the simple price of trusting him—a man who, through no obligation, gave everything for us to have the chance to be happy.  The extent to which we can benefit from this gift depends on our own degree of acceptance.  I hope we can learn to accept it more with each passing day.