God's Simple Gifts

“Better [is] little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.” (Pr 15:16 AV)

An important verse at this time of year!  It amazes me the transformation of Christmas from a sacred holiday to a material one!  It used to be the Charlie Brown Christmas was the Christmas special everyone watched.  Now, Santa Claus is the focus of every house.  Even in those professing their love for Christ!  Go figure!

We were watching “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” last night and the opening five or ten minutes perfectly illustrates what we have all become.  Christ is not even mentioned in that whole film!  Growing up, we didn’t have much.  My parents did a saintly job of providing all they could for their large family.  We may not have had all that we wanted.  But there was no lack of all that we needed.  And is come ways, I think we were more blessed and content because of it.  When it came to Christmas, my parents went out of their way to remind us of the sacredness of the holiday.  Many believe the advent wreath is a Catholic tradition, but it actually started in the 15^th century among German Lutherans.  There are four weeks of lighting candles and scripture readings.  These readings emphasized the sinful condition of man and the need of a redeemer.  Interspersed was other passages regarding the promises and prophesies of the coming of Christ and the actual Christmas event as recorded in Luke.  For four weeks, our minds were not on toys and gifts, but on Jesus Christ as our redeemer.  Our practice was that church came first.  On Christmas morning, we would all get dressed and got off to church.   Then, after we uncovered Baby Jesus in the manger scene and Dad said a prayer, we got to the gifts.

What we have done is made Christ of less value than any item we may ever receive.  As a child, we would get come chocolate and apples in our stockings.  Today, some stocking stuffers are more than what is under the tree.  When we did get to the tree, we would have three gifts.  One from each grandparent and one for our parents.  That was it.  Those were the good times.  What we did have was ten brothers and sisters to play with and share gifts.  What we did have is imagination.  What we did have is a thankful heart that God was the center of our tradition and holiday and not some gift that would eventually be discarded.  We are truly blessed no matter what is under the tree!