The Gift

Last year I was brainstorming for a new and creative way to celebrate Christ in Christmas.  Gifts seem to be a major component in the Christmas celebration, don’t they?  Who’s getting what?  Who wants what?  How much to spend? Even though my girls only get 3 gifts Christmas morning (just like Jesus got), we still put a lot into the gift giving.  I’m not that creative, so let’s just get that out there from the start.   But I pictured in my finite brain a gift at the front of the tree that we would put out every year that signified the true meaning of Christmas.  An empty box, covered in bright, white paper, with red ribbon and some greenery.  As I started to “create” such a box, I began to tell the story of Jesus.

 “Jesus came into the world one night because of God’s plan for salvation.  Sacrifices and commandments had fallen short.  God needed to provide a Savior and the only one who could save us was His Son Jesus.  We celebrate His birth every year on December 25th.  It’s His party, yet many times we forget to invite Him, don’t we?  This box that sits at the front of our tree symbolizes the gift He gave us.  His life.  He lived a perfect life on earth and died for our sins, so that we might live forever with Him.  The white paper surrounding this box symbolizes His perfect, blameless life.  He was the precious lamb of God who died for the sins of the world.  He had no sin.  The red ribbon symbolizes the blood that was shed as he died on the cross.  Without the blood there is no remission of sins.  The empty box is a picture of the empty tomb after His burial.  God’s word tells us that 3 days after his burial He arose from the dead and the tomb was empty.  The greenery symbolizes our new life in Christ.  God’s word tells us we are “new creatures” after our rebirth in Christ.”

Each and every time we look at our tree, we see The Christmas Gift at the front of all the other gifts.  A beautiful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.

~Lisa Clark