The Perfect Gift!

Who is sick of advertisements?  I saw a car commercial last night that used the phrase, "The season of reason", no doubt twisting the phrase, "Jesus is the reason for the season."  According to them, my "reason" should persuade me to buy their new car this Christmas.  I'm not going to say I'm immune to the call of the mall.  I struggle every time I walk through a store.  I always feel like I should buy one more teeny tiny gift for everyone.  After all, everyone worries about how their gift will be received.  There is so much riding on it.  In our culture, Christmas has become some sort of opportunity to even things out.  "Hey, dad...sorry I haven't called you at all in the last six months...but here..I got you a flat screen."  Hey honey, sorry I haven't met your emotional needs for the entire year, but here is a new car!"  "Kids, I know I yelled at you like I was coaching a hockey game for the whole year, but here is everything you've ever wished for under the tree."  Is that our real motivation?  To cover over the sins of the previous year?  Or, are we just too weak to stand up to the pressure of advertising.  Nobody wants their child to have only (gasp) one nice toy under the tree.  What does that even communicate?
Instead, I would love to pull you and I, for just a moment, into a dirty stable.  Let's turn off the call of consumerism.  Let's put away our credit cards and stand in silence.  The night is cool, the air is brisk.  It smells like hay and animal waste.  But, there, in the middle of a stable is the most beautiful love note ever written to us.  It is our gift.  The perfect gift.  It is the sacrifice from a Father... it is our freedom... it is our completely undeserved mercy.  And it is wrapped in blankets.  He is a baby King.  He will grow up and face challenges, He will cling to God with every fiber of His being.  He will live a sinless life and He will gather our wretched sins, take them to a cross, and hold them all the way to Hell.  He will pay the price for our freedom. But for now...He is a baby.  He is a new gift...a promise of what is to come.  He is the price a Father is willing to pay for the perfect gift.  And this could most definitely NOT be called "The season of reason."  There is no rational explanation why the creator of the universe would give such a personal gift to us.  But, love is irrational.  It doesn't follow a formula.  In my mind, holding my child with a fever, and shaking his chocolate milk 'just' the right amount... is love.  Choosing to encourage my husband when life is stressful and difficult... is love.  Skipping Christmas shopping to spend time with a friend that is grieving the loss of a loved one...that is love...that is a real gift.  Skipping presents to bring a fatherless child home...that is what matters.
I have revamped my entire attitude toward Christmas this year.  I have cut out many wonderful traditions simply because they don't benefit anyone but me.  We'll see on Christmas morning how excited my own kids are at this new approach to Christmas.  :)  My prayer is that they will be able to pull away from themselves and see that the perfect gift has already been given.  I can't top the one God gave to me.  I do believe, that I can honor that gift at Christmas by simply sharing the love that He has for me, with others.  And I want to encourage you to do the same.  It is not my intention to make you feel guilty for buying things.  Giving gifts with a loving heart is wonderful.  I just think it is important to take some time and refocus on the one and only gift that has already been given and ask you to stand somewhere between the manger and the cross when you contemplate this Season.  May you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed start to the New Year.