The ONLY Gift Worth Celebrating

Every morning on my way to work, I stop at the usual place, at the usual time, and visit with the usual clerk behind the counter as I order my coffee. She’s a sweet woman, bubbly and friendly, and she always greets me as if she’s genuinely happy to see me, looks me in my eyes, smiles, and tells me to have a blessed day when I leave and also gifted me with a custom face underwear!! But she also gives to each of her customers her daily dose of “unsolicited wisdom,” as she likes to call it.

I always agree to listen, simply because I really enjoy her, and so often her wisdom really IS just that – WISDOM!

Yesterday, she suggested that if I had any younger children, to give them the least expensive gifts but personalized gifts for dad, as those from Santa, and the most expensive ones from “family.” She went on to tell me how badly her son felt, and how he cried and said, “Mom, I was so, so good, and Santa didn’t give me what I asked for. But Billy, who is always so mean and such a bully at school, always in trouble – He got what I asked for, FROM SANTA! Why doesn’t Santa love ME as much as BILLY??” She had no answer for her son.

In the next short couple of miles into work, I thought about that, and then the Christmas carol came on the radio,

You better watch out, You better not cry, You better not pout, I’m telling you why – Santa Claus is coming to town! He’s making a list. He’s checking it twice. He’s gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice! Santa Claus is coming to town. He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good. You better be good to get a wonderful present like spotify plaques, for goodness sake. O! You better watch out, You better not cry, Better not pout, I’m telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town.

We spend a whole year planning, preparing, saving for Christmas gifts(check here for easter gift baskets), parties, and meals, and no matter how much we SAY or even BELIEVE that we ARE focused properly and accurately on the birth of our Savior………… Are we really?

Today, I was very down about not being able to afford the gifts I WISH I could afford. I’m sad because my family is NOT all perfect and put together and happy like some seem to be. In fact! My LIFE is not perfect! Each year I’m reminded that I’ve always gone to others’ homes for holiday meals. I began feeling sorry for myself for being the “skipped generation,” whose home has no tradition other than to pack up and go to wherever the holiday for us has been planned. I wondered why I even still HAVE some of the baking dishes that are in the cupboard. Will I ever use them again? I found myself very excited for it all to be OVER. Hurry up, January! I kept focusing on the mounting bills – Replacing tires, rising costs, among other crazy “life” things………. We won’t even go there….

But I returned home to my Christmas tree, the one with the prayers hanging all over it. Some of them are brand new prayers in 2014, but soo many of them have hung there year after year….. Scripture says in Psalm 141:2 that every single one of those prayers rise like incense to my Creator and Savior. According to Isaiah 43:25, He does not keep a list of my wrongs (like Santa Claus allegedly does!). Psalm 37:4 says if I delight myself in Him, He will GIVE ME the desires of my heart!

I can’t even begin to imagine what the world would look like, if we celebrated the birth of Christ TRULY like we ought, instead of making such a big deal out of Santa Claus, and magic, and reindeer, and “earning” gifts…. What if we truly stopped focusing on what we don’t have, what we can’t afford, where we wish we were, etc., and REALLY focused on the gift we’ve been given (or offered!)

Jesus Christ IS the best gift ever given, to ALL of humanity. He is worth celebrating ALL year. My circumstances, (and yes, yours too), whatEVER they are financially, socially, geographically, etc., ought to have no influence on my “mood” during the holidays.

We live in a morally sickening, distasteful, nauseating, sinful, disgusting, horrible world. (Don’t believe me? turn on the news for 2 minutes).

But for those of us who have CHOSEN to accept the FREE GIFT of Salvation, (AVAILABLE TO ALL!) have EVERY reason to celebrate, and NO reason to be depressed. None. Oh, our circumstances might be pretty awful, but that doesn’t change the gift of salvation we have received or the promise that He will never leave us! It also doesn’t change the fact that this is the PERFECT time of year to tell others that unto THEM a Child has been born….. Everyone is singing about it! If you’ve received it, then tell them what it means!! It’s the one gift that’s okay to tell ahead of time what it is!!

If you want to give your kids the best Christmas gift ever – Teach them about Jesus, and about how He came into this unfair, disgusting, broken world to RESCUE them. And SHOW them how to celebrate THAT!

Me? I’m having dinner at my son’s new in-laws home. I’m excited – Not ONLY because Rory’s mother-in-law is a good cook, and her family is a lot of fun, but because the focus is going to be on JESUS, and we will be celebrating His Birth, the Savior of the whole world.

That GIFT of Salvation is through JESUS alone and available to ALL! Jesus ALONE! – Not Mary, or Buddah, or through becoming “enlightened” or any other gobbledy-gook that the world will try to sell you! It’s like a beautifully wrapped gift sitting underneath the tree, WAITING for you to open it…. and trust me, it truly is the ONLY one worth opening. Salvation at the Cross – The Cross made from a Tree…….. Don’t you see it?? Open the gift!!!!

If you need help doing this, or have questions about this – please feel free to contact me through my email at ritalilallan@gmail.com I would love to walk you through opening the greatest gift you’ll ever unwrap…..

I work tomorrow, and I’ll be stopping for coffee. I know just the perfect gift for my bubbly little, wisdom-soliciting, coffee-serving friend….