The Gift....

As we start this week of Christmas I can't help but count down the days in my head until it gets here. Mostly because I keep hearing my kids talk about how it's "8 more days"..."6 more days"...."4 more days". And the closer it gets, the more excited they get. But also as an adult I still get excited too. But I've found it's a different kind of excitement than when I was a kid. I get more excited over the gifts I'm giving now, instead of the things I may be getting. And I can say that when I get excited over what I'm giving....Christmas just feels more like "Christmas". Don't get me wrong, as a kid the excitement of getting gifts was fun, but now that I am at a place where I can provide that excitement for my kids it's even better!

I don't think it's by chance that it works this way as we get older and hopefully wiser. That the excitement of Christmas would become more intense over the giving than it does the getting. I mean, the entire celebration of Christmas revolves around a gift that was provided for us, Jesus Christ. Nothing given or received this Christmas could even begin to compare to the gift that God gave us. Yet, I think we can tend to walk right through this season and forget to stop and really think about that. I can easily picture God in heaven getting excited each time someone realizes the gift He gave for them...when they accept that gift and truly appreciate the meaning behind it. 

I don't know about you, but I have been on the giving end of a gift that when it got received, the receiver wasn't nearly as excited about the gift as I thought they would be. And I remember thinking to myself "maybe they don't understand the thought I put into that gift", or "maybe they don't understand how hard that gift was to find"...or "maybe they don't realize how much it means to me to give them something like this". But the truth is, all of those things won't change the way the gift is received if the person who is receiving it doesn't see or understand the love behind the gift. If to them, it's just another gift then nothing I can do will make this gift any more special to them. God's gift to us is very much like this. He already put all the thought, care and love into the gift, but if the condition of the heart that He is trying to give it to isn't right, then the gift just won't mean the same. 

No matter where you are in life....either already a Christian, or someone who has not yet received the gift of Jesus Christ...ask yourself during this season what the gift means to you? Is God trying to prepare your heart to receive what He has for you? Or, was your heart there once, but you have allowed that gift to have less meaning than it used to? Either way, God wants to help you be a place where the GIFT...the life, death and resurrection of Jesus....has it's fullest meaning to you and will change your life in every possible way. This is not a gift that should be like any other that you have ever received. It's meaning should impact and affect you, your heart and your life like nothing ever has. If that has not happened to you yet, ask God to prepare your heart to understand the amazing love, grace and mercy that he has wrapped up in the gift of Jesus for you.... and then receive it.

God, You have given us a gift like no other. Please help us to fully understand and appreciate that. Help our hearts to be opened up to see the love....the amazing love, that you put behind Your gift. Do not just let us receive it like we would any other gift this Christmas, but instead let it be life changing just as You intended for it to be! In Jesus name, Amen