Gifts Can Work Miracles

            At this time every year I start decorating for the Christmas season. One of the first things that goes up is my crèche.  This set is special to me because it was my mother’s. I also love the colors, and the fact that it includes not only the wise men with their elegant gifts, but also shepherd boys of much more modest means bringing what they had.

            How comforting it is to get an unsuspected or needed gift. It may be in the form of a person willing to listen while you talk through a problem, or possibly a neighbor agreeing to feed your dog because you can’t get home.  A couple of years ago, my sister found out that a family was not going to have any Christmas, so she went out and bought gifts for them. I was only able to buy one or two things, but she fulfilled the wants. As I contemplated how her gifts would change a potentially bleak Christmas to a day of joy for some children she didn’t know, it was fun to anticipate not only their happiness, but the relief the mother of these girls must have felt.

            Thinking about presents brought a memory to mind. In my younger days, I was attending one of Houston’s largest churches and singing in the choir. One Sunday the minister explained that while he never took up a second offering, he was doing so that day. He further told about the significant need of one of the members of the cleaning crew. It probably would have taken this person at least five years of frugal living to save the money. While the offering was being taken up, I calculated that if the total amount given amounted to an average of $15.00 a person, realizing that some could give $1.00 while others could give $50.00 and above, the staff person would have what he needed. Wow, what a gift. I tell this story because it had a profound impact on me of how if we each give something, needs are met.

            Thought: I’ve lived long enough to know that there are many people in the food lines today who have worked hard and given back many times over; yet, with this pandemic they’ve seen their ability to feed themselves, their families, and their pets diminish. My guess is that no one looks in the free box or bag of food and calculates how much someone gave for each item; that person is just relieved that, at least for a while, food will be on the table.

            At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus when God came to earth in the form of man. Later in his ministry Jesus is teaching. Matthew 25:35 in the New International Version reads: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.”

            Matthew 25:37 continues “Then the righteous will answer Him, Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38: When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go visit you?”

            40: The King will reply, ‘Truly I will tell you, whatever you did for one of least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me.’



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