Extravagant Gift

We have stowed all the ornaments and heaved our trees out into the snow. Now we are three weeks past watching the ball drop in Times Square, planning New Year resolutions and toasting to a happy future. Almost overnight it seems the stores were cleared and shelves newly stocked with Valentine’s hearts and candies.

Where does it all go? All the hope and hype melts like candle wax. 

You gotta admit, there’s no time quite like those final weeks of the year when everything around us glitters and points to the BIG day. Kids know—it’s the biggest celebration of the year. It is a festival of lights and a highlight like no other holiday. Christmas is magical.

There’s joyous holiday music, colored lights, wrappings, ornaments and trees. Everywhere we look we see twinkling houses, and bustling shopping malls in that enchanting season of expectation. Billions of cards are mailed, cookies decorated, candles lit, and countless packages are wrapped with care.

Somewhere in the midst of all this activity, lies a story that ignites the hearts of those who know it. We should pause and swell with gratitude because two thousand years ago the birth of a small inconspicuous child changed everything.

He demonstrated the extravagant love of an invisible God and made the Almighty reachable by becoming one of us!

Interestingly, all of this happens precisely at the time of year when the world grows darkest! The sun sets earlier, temperatures plummet, and the nights grow longer. Fireplaces are stoked and blue smoke curls from chimneys as we dig in for the long chill of winter, wondering how long this year?

I wonder how often this is so, when light from above bursts on the scene at our darkest hour. When all seems hopeless, dawn breaks and love is born by the God who created it.

He came down and dwelt among us, and “in him came grace and truth. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” (Jn 1:17-18) His birth was a glorious surprise, but many missed it completely.

Dear God, in all the hustle-bustle of our celebrations and gift-giving, perhaps we have overlooked the greatest gift of all. It is life itself in a relationship you made possible through the offering of your own body on the cross! In Jesus we can approach your throne to receive forgiveness. Father, call us back to remembrance and thanks for your extravagant gift.