So What Did You Want?
“Therefore, as through one man’s offence judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” Romans 5:18
I came across this sweet story by Margery Tallcott.
When our son Pete was 6, it was a Depression year and the bare essentials were all we could afford. We felt we were richer than most people, though, in things of the mind and spirit. That was a comfort of sorts to us, but nothing 6-year-old could understand.
With Christmas a week off, we told Pete that there couldn’t be any store-bought presents for any of us. “But I’ll tell you what we can do,” said his Dad with an inspiration born of heartbreak. “We can make pictures of the presents we’d like to give each other.”
For the next few days, each of us worked secretly, with giggles. We had a Christmas tree with pitifully few decorations to trim it with. Yet, on Christmas morning, never was a tree heaped with such riches! The gifts were only pictures of gifts, to be sure, cut out or drawn and colored and painted. But they were presents, luxurious beyond our dreams: A sleek black limousine for Daddy. A diamond bracelet and a fur coat for me. Pete’s presents were the most expensive toys cut from advertisements. Our best present to him was a picture of a fabulous camping tent, complete with Indian designs, painted, of course, by Daddy, and magnificent pictures of a swimming pool, with funny remarks by me. Daddy’s best present to me was a watercolour he had painted of our dream house, white with green shutters and forsythia bushes on the lawn.
Naturally, we didn’t expect any “best present” from Pete. But with squeals of delight, he gave us a crayon drawing, it was unmistakably the picture of three people laughing, a man, a woman, and a little boy. They had their arms around one another. Under the picture, he had printed just one word: US. For many years we have looked back at that day as the richest, most satisfying Christmas we have ever had.
The most precious things in life cannot be bought with money. Let’s focus on the wonderful gifts we’ve been given this season – family, friends and most of all, God’s grace toward us in sending His Son to die in our place.