Day 45 of 4: His Indescribable Gift (12/20/12)

Day 45 of 4 more years: 

Christmas presents! In these last few days before Christmas, that seems to be the obsession….unless you are the cook and you are thinking about the meal! The perfect gift can seem illusive. We want to give the awesome gift that knocks the receiver's socks off! One that will get the response, "For me? You got this perfect ____ just for me!" So where is it? What is it? And if you find it, do you second guess yourself? What was the best gift you ever gave someone? I remember.

When I was probably 9 or 10 years old, my brother and I hatched up a plant to give our Mom the best gift ever. My sister was around, but being 5 or 6, she was just "in the way." This was big stuff and required strategy she certainly didn't have, plus she couldn't have kept the secret. It was a year when the pecan crop was bountiful and the price was high, which was not always the case. In those days, there were good pecans on the native trees along Sims creek and the Lampasas River. Today, those trees have diseases which must be sprayed, so we seldom have good crops. But that year, everyone was picking pecans because of the price and selling them in town for "big" money. Many years my grandmother let pecan threshers harvest the pecans and share in the crop. Mike and I asked my great-grandmother (known as Ma to everyone) if we could have the money from the pecan trees below our house. She was fine with the plan. We went to work: picking, raking, shaking, crawling on the ground, and this went on for days. Daddy helped some and Mom was none the wiser, or so we thought. In those days, "go outside and play" really meant it. We could be gone from dawn to dusk if we checked in occasionally. Our little fingers became black with pecan stain, which was bound to have made Mom suspicious, but we finally did it! We gathered them all, Daddy took us to town, cashed in the pecans for our bounty, and I remember we had twenty dollars to spend! We were so excited, for that was a fortune to us! 

I don't remember why but we selected a wooden canister set at the hardware store in town. We agreed it was perfect! Got it home and with assistance from Ma, we managed to get it wrapped and under the tree. We couldn't wait for Christmas! The waiting was exciting, too! Our secret! And it was perfect! When my Mom finally unwrapped the long anticipated gift, she cried. Was it exactly what she wanted? I really don't think so, but what was exactly right were the hearts of the givers. She treasured it so much that the little brown wooden canister set with the painted white and yellow daisies survived all the years. She even prominently displayed it after its retirement from actual use! It is still on display at Paradise to remind us of a time when we had nothing, but we worked hard to give someone we loved dearly a perfect gift.

You see, it is the thought that counts. That may sound trite, but I believe our hearts are the source of the best gifts. When we give from our hearts, we pattern the gift from God. He gave the first gift, His Son, and it was the best gift….baby Jesus. We want to give as He did. So let's put our hearts into our gifts. That is what He did.

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift." 2 Corinthians 9:15

Another translation: "Thanks be to God for His gift that is too wonderful for words."

Pray:

Father, we are grateful to You for the pattern of giving the perfect gift. Help us to be mindful of why we give gifts at Christmas and let us honor You in our giving.

Amen