The Gift of Christmas

The Gift of Christmas

What kind of present would behoove me on the day I am called to heaven?  One that should have always been part of my spiritual life and comforted me in times of stress.  Perhaps that is what appears to be missing in today’s endless reaching for the top without asking God to guide us.  One may ponder the most precious element to be secured as he/she struggles to find that hidden secret lingering around the corner of life’s intrigue.  

As a person lies in a grip of emptiness waiting for the final curtain to fall, the thoughts of the past may now come faster as the passage into eternity looms ahead.  If this person is still cognitive enough to relate with God the vision of a missing entity now comes to fruition in a manner of a gift he never received.  

We must think back to the tree at Christmas and what the wrapped presents beneath it reflect.  What is Christmas without joyful music, a gathering of family showing love to each other, and the gift we share in the Church with Christ who is God’s gift to us. 

God knows what can turn a forlorn mind to joy when the prize each one longed for before the eve of Christmas arrived.  It is here where we find the absence of peace will at least for a day present itself and dress our drooping hearts with clothes that reflect happiness.  This is the very essence of the Christ-child seen by the shepherds in the field, the visitors from the East with their gifts, and the blessings that God, the Father of Christ, promised through the prophets of Old.  

A person who is lingering on their death-bed may see and believe as the angels are ready to guide this soul to meet Christ and receive the very gift of Christmas who is his savior; the very ominous gift of eternal life.  This person is found by God to be ready to open his present.  Upon pulling the ribbons away, the gift sings out to; “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”

So many may not be able to see Christmas in the same way.  How prepared are we as the morning finds some unable to understand what their life has produced through hatred, anti-life procedures, contempt for someone different from them, and the rejection of God’s love and mercy?

Christmas and all it means to those who believe in the Incarnation as the most precious gift of our Father is the ultimate collection of life; the life God shares with us in its complete essence of peace, purity, and love of our neighbors.   As we open our presents, see in each package is the love of God that cannot be hidden but is reached through the Holy Spirit dwelling within each one of us. 

Ralph B. Hathaway