Birthdays are for Giving

The word gift is in many titles, including songs, movies and television shows.  I cannot help but think about this word as my mother’s ninetieth birthday is only four days away.

I am pretty certain we all enjoy receiving gifts.  What are your favorite gifts?  Is a gift not something wrapped in paper that you rip open and enjoy for a while before you get bored and shove it away on a shelf somewhere?

Maybe some gifts are like that.

Would it be cold-hearted and un-feeling to think of a person as a gift?

Concerning my mother, I have a multitude of memories (yes, my memory still functions) that I speak and write about, such as good meals, comfort in sorrow, thoughtful conversation, decorating on holidays, unmatched potato salad and sugar cookies, opening the house to neighbor kids (if they watched their language), sports knowledge.  These and countless others are gifts that are stored on my memory shelf, though, to be honest, most of them I just took for granted for much of my life.

Mom and I both remember a story.  I was probably about twelve years old, just arriving home from school.  I opened the front door of the house on Hummel Drive, and I saw her sitting on the couch.  I told her she looked very tired, and she proceeded to tell me all the work she had done that day.  I looked at her and said – yes, I really said this – “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”  I don’t remember her response, but none of you would blame her if she had thought about smacking me.

I now realize that the blessing of my mother is not what she does, but who she is.  She is a precious gift. 

To say my mother is gift is not making less of her, not at all.  It is, rather, giving to the Creator the proper appreciation that He deserves.  Why?  Because the term gift demands a Giver.  My mother did not fall from the sky, and she is not the result of a cosmic accident.  The God of the universe who created the first man from dust decreed that it be so.  He not only possessed in Himself the idea of a mother, He appointed my mother especially for me.   To consider that and try to unpack it and grasp just a glimpse of His greatness is indeed to begin to see His beauty, majesty, wisdom, and love.

As a young man, nearly forty years ago, I wrote a Christmas card and sent it out to friends and family members.  Its title is from the well-known Bible verse John 3:16.  The gifts that we give and receive in this life are wonderful and worthy of appreciation.  However, the gift described below is incomparable.  I offer it to you with joy and reverence, and with a hopeful heart.  It was my attempt – my gift, one might say – to communicate the blessing of this wonderful gift of God with the hope that those who read it would see beyond my imperfect communication and instead  would see the worthiness of the One about whom it speaks.  To this day my prayer is that all my loved ones would by faith receive this gift that only God can give.   To God alone be the glory.

“God So Loved…He Gave…”

God gave the first Christmas gift

He gave no less than Heaven’s best

He gave to mankind His only begotten Son, Jesus

He gave not out of necessity or obligation

He gave for one reason…Love

Nearly 2000 years ago, the Son of God stepped

Out of eternity and into the pages of history

Angles spoke of the coming miracle to Joseph and Mary

A shining star proclaimed His birth in Bethlehem

Shepherds worshipped Him and welcomed Him into the World

All the hosts of Heaven rejoiced and praised the Father,

They thanked him for his immeasurable love

This king was not born in a palace

He was not born into a royal family

Nor did He sit on an earthly throne

He did not seek to gain glory, power, and honor

Because He came to give, not to take

For a third of a century He walked this earth as a man

He brought salvation to hearts hungry for life

He forgave the sins of the ungodly

He healed the sick and raised the dead

He showed compassion for the lost and forsaken

And He healed the hearts of the broken-hearted

He gave His life and love to all who would receive it

He gave His life on a cross

He died and earthly death that we might have a heavenly life

He died to mend our spirits and reunite us with God

Yet He lives today and His love continues

Jesus, the eternal Christ

The man whose life began in a manger

And ended on a cross

He gave Himself to us in life

He gave Himself for us in death

All this because “God so Loved