Christmas Gifts

I once asked my father what he considered to be the most special gift he had ever received. He paused, reflected for a few moments, and spoke with some certainty. He said, “While I consider every gift I’ve ever received to be special, there is one that stands out.” He told me about a Christmas some years before I was born when one of my older brothers bought him a very simple gift.

“He was only young. Maybe four years old. He wanted to buy something for his daddy and managed to scrape together enough coins to buy me a little bar of shaving soap.” I listened as my father continued. “It couldn’t have cost much at all. It was a small bar of soap, but what made it special is that it was given with love. A young boy wanted to do something special for his father. I have never forgotten that.” Over the years, Dad received gifts of much greater monetary value. In fact, the shaving soap was almost certainly the least expensive gift he had ever been given, but no gift ever touched his heart like the inexperience gift given him by a boy barely out of infancy.

While waiting to go onto the platform to preach one Sabbath during the Christmas season, I asked the same question of several women who were waiting to participate in the church service. The answers I received were essentially the same. One said, “I remember my daughter made something for me that I treasured for years.” Another told me about a gift her three children had worked together to make.

The third woman said essentially the same thing.

Her children had given her something they had made.

It was simple and inexpensive, but it came from the heart.

As Christmas approaches and people check off their shopping lists, it is possible to miss out on recognizing the greatest gift that can be given.

In Proverbs, God says, “My son, give me your heart” (Proverbs 23:26).

Don’t forget God this Christmas.

You already know what He wants most.

He wants the simple gift of your heart.