The Gift

We can buy many gifts. We can fill our stockings to overflowing. We can eat too much roast beef, and gorge on too many mince pies. We can gather together with long lost family members or give our partners a new trendy gadget. Sure. We could do all this.

I could receive a new Xbox alongside my glow in the dark toothbrush. I could swim my way through a new swimming pool or turn the key of a new fancy V8 BMW. I could smell my way through a new Lynx deodorant, or a $50 Target Voucher. But... It can't be wooed by a sale sticker, or a fancy slogan. It can't be purchased with my credit card. It can be exchanged for another but without the same benefits. The gift won't be worn, tired or broken in three weeks. Even though the gift is so great for so many, the gift doesn't  seem to find its way much onto TV. The radio hosts and TV presenters don't want to mention it much.

Friends I know have received the same gift, and sometimes we chat together about it. Mates write their status updates about it, and make quirky statements about the gift's significance in their own life. We all laugh. Some debate the gift's relevance to today, and others reply with, 'Well, you wouldn't know...' Give the gift a chance some banter. Some have been burnt by the gift - well, not burnt by the actual gift, but hurt by the one who has received the gift and not represented the gift in the way that was intended. Others are testing out the gift, and are still wondering whether the gift provides the change that others are raving about. To be honest, I once thought the gift was 'not for me', and was only for weird people who dressed funny. Actually, I'm beginning to think the gift is not only for people who dress in old, brown sweaters, but even those who dress in black, or wear burkas, or bikinis on Saturdays. I'm beginning to think the gift is not just for 50 year old females who sing, but also for 50 years old men who drink and swear. Hey, come to think of it, the gift is not just limited to religious people, but atheists, agnostics, skeptics, philosophers, tradespeople, family people, working class people and business people. The gift is even for the Gen-X family member who can't put all the pieces together, or the young girl who doesn't understand her future. What about the pensioner who can't afford the Christmas dinner, or the working poor who has no time for the family - the gift is still for them.

The gift is special. The gift is beyond comprehension and undefinable. The gift opens the sight of the blind. The gift can heal the sick. The gift can pour healing on a broken soul. The gift promises an awesome eternal life, and a life that's eternally awesome. The gift is what God sent.


The gift is Jesus Christ.