ONE MORE GIFT POST

 Surely by now you have finished your gift purchases and though you may not have them all wrapped--you are breathing a sigh of relief.  NOT to pop your bubble, but I have finally decided what "The Perfect Gift" consists of.  

The perfect gift has nothing to do with stuff.  I wrote last week about the best gift being your presence.  This certainly has a boat load of merit.  The perfect gift can be your presence, but I have decided the perfect gift was modeled that very first Christmas.  It had nothing to do with sheep or wise men, although their presence on this blessed occasion was a wonderful gift.  Perfect gifts usually involve sacrifice on the part of the giver.  God gave us that perfect gift the very first Christmas when He gave His Son to be our sacrificial lamb.  NOW--we certainly cannot be anyone's sacrificial lamb, but our gift to them can require sacrifice.  A sacrifice of time, effort, energy, thought--giving of a part of ourselves we will never get back for the love of the recipient.  

I am giving my grands gifts--of course, but I give them far more when I spend time with them.  When I sit and have a conversation--LISTEN, play a game, tell them stories, watch a movie together---on and on.  When I give them a piece of the time I have left, I am sacrificing that time for them.  That sacrifice is not difficult for it is done in love.  So

 The gift of the sacrifice of God's own son so that we might be with Him eternally was also done in great love.  Though it came with a great cost, He never faltered as He sacrificed for those He loved.  What a beautiful picture of what real gift giving is all about.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

I John 4:9