I write this not having had very much sleep this week.
I had Christmas planned. Pretty much every moment from Wednesday morning had something that needed to be done. And everything went as great. The food was made, the gifts bought and wrapped, etc.
And then Christmas Eve my Grandparents and Parents came for our Swedish Smorgasbord and traditional Christmas Eve opening of the gifts. It was great. The food turned out well, the kids were enjoying their gifts. I was excited about my new cookware, and Brent about his new fire pit.
On a cold night in Colorado we set up the fire pit. We had some trouble getting the fire started. We had our wine, and Brent had started his cigar. We were looking forward to putting the kids to bed and enjoying an evening in front of the fire. It couldn’t have been a better evening.
The phone rang.
An old neighbor of ours was stuck at the airport with her three young kids. I can’t get into all of the sad details, but her own family told her that she couldn’t stay with them. She has very little money. I have helped this gal before when she has been in difficult situations. She called me to see if I could help.
We opened our home to this mother and her three children.
This was not something I was looking forward to. In fact I was dreading it.
And I learned how selfish and self centered that I am. When they were here, I was hording my children’s new toys. I didn’t want these wild children to break them. I was being nice, but on the surface only. Inside I was a bit annoyed.
I asked the mother if the children would be getting any presents the next morning. She told me that they could not afford any.
My heart softened.
I went to work. Thankfully I have a gift box full of prizes for my kids. Fun CD’s, pencils, books. I put together a gift bag for each of these children. When they awoke in the morning, the joy they expressed for these little toys was far more than my own children expressed for the expensive ones.
I spent a lot of time thinking about Christ and His love for us. He loved the ones that were not so easy to love. He didn’t care how attractive they were, how wealthy they were. He loved us.
I am sure I don’t have to explain to you the lessons learned. I hope it is obvious.
I saw one of the kids playing with my son’s new toy. I quickly asked if Jonathan had given him permission to play with it. I found out that this child asked Jonathan if he could play with the toy, and Jonathan willingly told him to have fun playing with it.
The little girl told me how beautiful my necklace was. She asked if she could wear one of my necklaces around for Christmas. I found one that I gave to her. Her face lit up for the rest of they day.
We talk about Christmas, and how it should be about Christ. We stress about buying our presents, getting the cards out,the decorations up, the parties etc. etc. All of that is fine and wonderful. I enjoy it as much as the next person.
I f Christmas is about Christ, then it is not about sacrifice.
I just hope that through this year that we can learn what it means to really love one another.
