Holidays like Christmas are marked with food, friends and frolic. Okay, maybe no frolic. There are of course the gifts given and received as well. Most of the really important gifts are centered around love of the giver to the given and remain great memories long after the gifts have served their usefulness. As the Bible says, "Love endures forever." It's true even if we don't believe we are loved. That's the thing about gifts; we interpret them as temporary while all the while they are permanent. We remember the giver and THEN the gift reinforces the giver, not the gift. It's like that with the love of God as well. We remember that He is there and lose track of some of what he has done. We remember the love and the act of love only when we remember where the love came from. Full circle...just like remembering the wonderful food we have had when we walk into the kitchen. Blessings by association if you will.
When we discuss the goodness of a holiday there inevitably are certain foods that click and some that don't. For instance, turkey at Thanksgiving and ham at Easter. The choice of seating goes the same way. Couch or recliner? Recliner of course! Christmas is a bit more complicated. For some it's turkey, and for some it's ham and then for others it's beef roast. But there are few people who choose other than the recliner when it comes time to rest. The Israelites were given choices as well. They could love or love manna. Hmmm... While they rested in their tents in the desert without recliners they feasted on manna every day and day after day. All the holidays were centered around manna made by mom's old fashioned recipe. You can bet they remember to this day the days of manna and more. What ties the memories together is the God who not only provided the manna but also the rest in the desert, mountains, river beds and etc...
Besides the wonderful food of dinner, there were the snacks, snacks and cookies and more snacks; there were if course the gifts. I'm not talking about the gift I received thought they were plentiful, thoughtful and useful. I'm talking about the gifts given that brought back memories of gifts I had given over the year (not nearly as much as I was able). Emptying my closet (partially) 4 times over the past year and taking my clothes, shoes, jackets, shirts, and other items to locations where homeless hung out was a wonderful experience. Giving out of my excess to those who do not have has a humbling effect on a person. It's one thing to give to a local charity or to a place where they resell your stuff for nominal prices. It's quite another thing to look a man in the eye and give him what he doesn't have at all. I don't need 10 jackets or 20 pairs of pants much less 40 plus shirts. I don't need 8 pairs of shoes and certainly can part with gloves, scarfs and stocking caps. Knowing that someone will use them daily is satisfying. Giving them to someone who can give me a tax deduction is selfish giving. Don't do it.
At the end of my Christmas day I was left full, rested, and stuffed. Yet the day wasn't done. The receiving and giving wasn't over. I still needed to remember the Giver of the Gift that I was most thankful for. So, out in my backyard, in the light of the full moon (won't happen again for another 19 years), I looked at the stars and remembered a star long ago that led wise men to the baby Jesus. That gift from God was, is and will forever be my best gift for which all I can muster to give back is my life. God bless each and everyone who reads these blogs. His gift is forever.
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