In winter, I have often stood in the icicle air and gazed up at the starlit sky. The pinpricks of light shimmer and flicker in the velvet blackness, while their reflections, like millions of candles, dance across the frozen snow. The whole world sleeps under the warmth of an icy blanket. My soul is filled with indescribable peace as I marvel at the grandeur of it all.
I think of how the snow covered the autumn leaves and the dark, bare ground and how when the snow melts into spring, the world will be transformed into a brilliant green world of new life.
Then summer will come with the glorious festoons of flowers and growing things. Winter comes again, and the precise patterns of seasons will be complete once again. What a magnificent gift God has given us in creating the world. I don’t take enough time to recognize the wonder of it all. The beautiful cycles of life happen every year, and I sit in my overstuffed chair and focus on what needs to be done. Christmas is here again.
The year has crept away, stealing my days like a hungry lion devouring his prey. What happened to the gifts I put under the tree last year? What happened to New Year’s and Valentines and the Fourth of July, Halloween and Thanksgiving? Where are the hopeful sunrises and sleepy sunsets that I planned to make the best Christmas ever? Where are the meaningful gifts I planned to put under the tree for my family?
I ponder again the question: What can I give the 100 people in my family this Christmas? What will help them realize how much I love them and still not break the bank or max out my credit card for a year? Gifts are tricky. They say so much without even speaking. Over the years, I have given many gifts. Some were beautiful handmade items. Some were token trinkets from the store at the last minute. You know, the they-gave-me-a-present-and-I-must-do-something kind of gift. In January, I always start thinking of next Christmas, but time has passed so quickly. I am here with the same question.
What gift will have a lasting impression? Will my children remember my gift longer than the crackle of wrapping paper burning in the fire? What kind of a gift will keep giving long after the Christmas lights and glitter are gone from the tree? What kind of gift will wake them with a smile of remembering that was Christmas? That was the Christmas they knew someone really loved them.
My parents gave me Christmas upon Christmas wrapped with love. It was always about family and traditions. There were always presents stacked under a tree, and a devotional in candlelight reading and acting out the Christmas story. There were visits with cousins, uncles, aunts and grandparents.
I remember one Christmas, Mother made each of her children and grandchildren a handmade quilt. That must have taken all year because her six children were married and they had children of their own. She gave my 11 adopted children a quilt. Each child and married couple received a quilt that was designed with his/her personality in mind. That was the kind of Christmas that makes me smile with remembering.
Gifts that take sacrifice are often the best gifts. They take time, thought, preparation and work. It's like you weave part of yourself into that gift as you ponder the gift you will give to someone else. It's not about how you will feel when you give such a gift. It is selfless because you truly want to make the other person happy and feel your deep love.
My husband gave me such a gift. The Christmas before he passed away, he made me a guitar. He spent hours sanding the wood, making it shine and routing a picture of a butterfly into the wood. He knew I loved butterflies. He was precise about the fretboards and the strings. Every detail was perfect. When I saw the love in his eyes when he gave me the guitar, I knew the price he had paid in sweat equity and hours of sacrifice. It is a gift that makes me smile with remembering.
Gifts that are given that way remind me of Jesus and His gifts to us. His life was filled with sacrifice and love. He could have chosen to be born in the king’s palace, yet He chose to be born in the lowest of circumstances. In a place where animals were housed. He could have had angels and servants at His beck and call, but he chose to become a servant to everyone. He could have chosen a life of leisure. Instead, He chose to walk the roads of the smallest cities and towns seeking those who were sick, blind and lame. His gifts were given with the receiver in mind. He never thought, “How will this make me look in the eyes of those around me?” His gifts were born of compassion and desire for the welfare of His followers.
As I think about His life, I realize the most valuable things in my life were because of His life. My parents, because they followed His teachings, became people who were willing to put aside their comfort to bless the lives of their children. My husband, because he followed the teachings of the Savior, gave the gift of fidelity and trust to me. He didn’t spend his hours thinking about how he could impress others. He was concerned about how he could show love to me. He became who he was because he followed the example of Jesus.
The greatest gift I have ever received is the gift Jesus gave to all the world. These two hymns of praise express my feelings far greater than I could ever write. The first song, with words and music by Melanie Hoffman, talks of His suffering in the garden where He took upon Himself my sins and infirmities. The second, by George Bennard, tells of His gift on the cross.
Gethsemane
Jesus climbed the hill to the garden still.
His steps were heavy and slow.
Love and a prayer took Him there
To the place only He could go.
Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He went willingly to Gethsemane.
He felt all that was sad, wicked or bad,
All the pain we would ever know.
While His friends were asleep, He fought to keep
His promise made long ago.
Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He went willingly to Gethsemane.
The hardest thing that ever was done,
The greatest pain that ever was known,
The biggest battle that ever was won –
This was done by Jesus!
The fight was won by Jesus!
Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He gave His gift to me in Gethsemane.
Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He gives His gift to me from Gethsemane.
The Old Rugged Cross
On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross
The emblem of suff'ring and shame
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain…
Oh, that old rugged cross so despised by the world
Has a wondrous attraction for me
For the dear Lamb of God, left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary…
In the old rugged cross, stain'd with blood so divine
A wondrous beauty I see
For the dear Lamb of God, left His glory above
To pardon and sanctify me
To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true
Its shame and reproach gladly bear
Then He'll call me some day to my home far away
Where His glory forever I'll share
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown
The gifts Jesus gave changed the world. His gifts are gifts that magnify and exult with memory. His gifts make every Christmas full of joy, and each day of our lives full of hope. His example to love as He did is the greatest quest. As we follow Him, we will find and give the gifts that will be worth remembering. There are no trinkets no matter how expensive that will bring that kind of joy.
