My last Christmas at home. I wasn’t sad or bittersweet…I was over the top excited! I would be getting married in six months, and would spend the following Christmases with my new husband. Who could ask for anything more?

I loved Christmas mornings at Mama and Daddy’s. It was always a free-for-all. Everyone opened their gifts at the same time. Shouts of “Aw, thanks! Just what I wanted” or “What IS it?” filled the room. It was no different that Christmas morning. Wild and crazy excitement filled the air. Except when I got to one particular gift. Everything and everyone quieted down.

I ripped into the wrapping paper, and found – a cereal box! Mama was always like that. Wrapping our gifts in whatever box she found. I couldn’t imagine what was inside that plain ole box. For all I knew, it could have been cereal!

But it wasn’t. It was an envelope, with a piece of paper folded up inside. I carefully opened the paper, to find the title to my car. Mama and Daddy had not wanted me to go into this marriage with an outstanding loan. They had paid off the remaining few months of my car note. They had paid my debt.

Tears of gratitude streamed down my face. I tried to say thank you, but the lump in my throat kept the words inside. They loved me so much, they paid my debt. It was the greatest gift they could have given me.

 

There was another gift given long, long ago. No fanfare or fancy wrapping. Just a baby in a stable, wrapped in dirty cloths. God’s Son. The Messiah. Immanuel, God with us. Jesus.

• How often do we squeal with delight at the gifts under the tree, but forget the tree at Calvary?
• How often do we see the red of the Christmas season, but forget His blood that was shed?
• How often are we brought to tears of thankfulness for the greatest gift God gave…His Son Jesus, paying our debt of sin?

My prayer this Christmas, and every day, is that we would be like the shepherds, after seeing Baby Jesus.

Luke 2:20 “And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.”

Merry Christmas!