To the Editor:
My father always disliked Christmas because he never knew what gift to buy for his family. I always loved Christmas because I loved finding the gift that fit the person. Everyone in the family was easy to figure out – except my dad.
I was 65 years old before I finally got it right and Dad loved his memory quilt I had made – especially the actuarial jokes, his favorite car, and pictures of him and Mom and the whole family.
The interesting thing I have come to see is how much gifts have become a larger than life part of Christmas. The baby Jesus received three gifts – not one was a toy. Our children and grandchildren receive a stacked mountain of boxes with far more toys than practical items.
As we age, the funds are no longer flowing and gifts are fewer and smaller, but the air we breathe makes us feel we haven’t bought enough. We haven’t given enough to our families or others in need. I have been pondering the meaning of that vacuum of gifts and what drives us to keep looking in case we find one more gift.
It finally occurred to me that my desire to buy gifts is driven by a sense of wanting to repay God for the gift of love and mercy that came into this world with the birth of Jesus. If I am forced to really be honest, in my entire life of gift giving my repayment for the gift of love seems but a small pinhole of light in the sky.
A sacrificial gift, given in love, forgiving all mankind, has a lifetime of repayment that exacts more from the human heart than our pocket books.
Gifts bought in love for one another are small reminders of the greatest gift of life we received 2,014 years ago. Perhaps our gifts to God in this season should be gifts of forgiveness for our enemies. Not easy for humans to do, but we have seen it done and we know it is an essential component in sharing love in our hearts.
May the season of gifts given and gifts received provide you with the warmth of love and mercy.
