Christmas Is All About the Gifts

I feel your judgment on me and the title of this blog right now. If looks could stare through the screen and kill me I may be dead by now. But, before you get mad at me and say that Christmas is not about gift giving and so much more, give me a chance to explain myself.

Before I have every mom in the world on my case, saying, "this is not what I teach my kids at home" and "I want to teach my kid to be more giving than receiving," I want to clarify that I agree.

Before you scream at me and ask me if I've ever seen "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", yes I know that Christmas comes without ribbons and comes without tags. I know that it comes without packages, boxes and bags. Yes, I know that Christmas doesn't come from a store and perhaps means a little bit more. And no, my heart doesn't need to grow three sizes, because it already knows all of this.

However, I do like to give my kids presents at Christmas time. I love seeing their faces and how happy they are on Christmas morning and if we're being honest most people do like seeing a nice little gift under the tree, tied in a bow with their name on it.

I did the love language test a few years ago and my number one love language, which was a surprise to me, was gift giving. I was shocked, ashamed of myself. I was taught and believed whole heatedly my whole life that it IS more blessed to give than receive. See, told ya I agreed with you. I thought the test had to be wrong!

The more I thought about it though, I did like to receive gifts and give gifts, therefore that was my language of love. The thing is, though, I figured out it was not about material things that made me happy. It was the thought behind them. It doesn't have to be shiny or expensive or the greatest, latest thing. It just has to say, "I knew you would like this, so I bought it for you." When someone takes the time to know what my interests are and what my likes are and gives me a gift accordingly, then I feel the love. I realized this because I would pay close attention to what people liked and would buy them a gift based on that knowledge. Sure, I may know that my daughter likes volleyball and I can buy her anything volleyball related, but I have to go deeper than that. Like the time when she got her driver's license. I bought her a cheap little trinket key chain which said, "I love volleyball". To her it meant a lot because it marked the momentous occasion of a major milestone in her life with something that I knew she loved.

A thoughtful gift can come in the form of a house warming gift to a friend that just moved into a new home.

It can be a card to anyone who may need an encouraging word.

A gift with meaning can be a coffee from a friend at just the right time that you needed it because she knows you well enough to know that you needed a little pick me up.

A gift that shows you know what others are interested in can come in the form of planning a date night at the gun range because you know that's what your husband likes to do.

You can bake your daughter's favorite cookies for her when she had a bad day.

Or a friend that says, "I said a prayer for you today."

See, it doesn't have to be about how much money you drop on a gift, but rather, more about how much love and thought you put into that gift.

I'm thinking of my favorite gift ever that was given to me many years ago. So much thought was put into it that gift that the plan was conceived before I was even born, shoot even before the world was formed.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:3-6

Talk about a thoughtful, loving gift!

And the gift keeps on giving. A gift promised to those who believe and obey the gospel.

Ephesians 1 continues in verses 7-14.

Because the Father loved us so much and gave us His son we have the gift of:

1.Redemption through His blood (1:7)

2.Forgiveness of our trespasses (1:7)

3. The mystery of His will revealed to us (1:9)

4.Unity in Christ (1:10)

5.An obtained inheritance (1:11)

6. The seal of the promised Holy Spirit (1:13)

7. A promised inheritance guaranteed by the blood of Christ (1:14)

Because God loved me so much to give me His only son, my love language prompts me to want to give Him a gift in return to show Him I love Him. But I'm at a dilemma. How do I give a gift to the ultimate gift giver? What can I possibly give Him in return? If I look further into Ephesians in chapter 2:8 I'm told it is by grace I am saved. It is a gift from God. No amount of good works I do will save me. But wait, I back up again in verse 8 and see I have been saved by grace, through faith. Through faith! What I can offer to God is my faith. Forward in verse 10 we are told we were created for good works. I can have faith in God, obey him and serve others with my good works to show my love to God and in doing so I will bring glory to his name, which is the best gift I can offer to Him. Because of His great gift to me and my love for God I want to do this wholeheartedly.

So, I hope I've redeemed myself from your earlier judgments. I pray that the gift I talk about this Christmas passes your inspection and this is something you want to not only teach your children, but yourself as well.

Yeah, so Christmas is in fact about the gifts, but not the physical, material kind. It's more about the gifts of love, thoughtfulness, grace, kindness, good works, mercy and love.

So, this Christmas thank God for the gift and sacrifice of His son and be prepared to use your gifts to give back to him to further his kingdom and bring glory to his name on high...and remember that Christmas is all about the gift...of Christ.