Are you ready? Christmas is just 2 days away. Hopefully all your gifts have been bought, the decorations are up, the meals are planned and any visitors are either on their way or have already arrived, safely. One thing that is often left to the very last is wrapping the final gifts or stuffing the stockings with goodies.
How do you wrap your gifts? Do you use colorful, shiny papers with fancy bows and ribbons, or bags with pretty tissue paper? I remember when we were young we would sometimes wrap the gifts in the Sunday funnies, because they were colorful, and it was a good way to recycle the paper. My husband started a tradition in our family years ago of wrapping my gifts in foil. He decided that was the quickest and easiest way to wrap: no folded corners, no tape, and if it wrinkled it simply made it sparkle more! Our two boys picked up on that tradition and it continues to this day. Do you have a favorite way to wrap gifts?
The packaging and the wrapping tell us very little about the contents. I remember on several occasions when I was young, someone got a gift that was boxed several times in progressively smaller and smaller boxes - one way to make a small gift into a big production. My husband has a tendency to try to figure out what is in the package before Christmas arrives. If we package it well enough, it won't rattle inside when shaken. He will pick it up to feel how heavy it is, shake it, turn it every which way, and try to get you to tell him if he is right in his guesses. If it is something he has not listed as a gift he wanted, it makes it even harder to identify.
Our own "wrapping" as people also comes in many forms - our clothing, our looks, our skin color, wrinkles or not, large or small, short or tall - none of it really tells others about who we really are inside. Our actions, however, can reflect our inner selves. That may begin to tell other people about who we really are. But even then, others cannot truly know what is in our hearts. Only God sees what is in the heart. Only the Lord can tell if we are true believers and sincere in our actions toward others. We can only judge the "wrappings" of other people - only God can judge the "contents" of our hearts.
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” I Samuel 16:7 NIV
Our heavenly King came to earth as a tiny baby in a stable, wrapped in swaddling cloths, laid in a manger - not the expected royal beginnings of a King. So this Christmas may we be reminded that what we see on the outside can be a distorted image of what is inside others. We may be called to lovingly address outside actions, but we are never to judge another soul. What does the Lord see in YOUR heart?
Dear God, we are eternally grateful thank you sent your Son to earth, even in an unexpected way at the time, yet revealing yourself in a glorious way. Thank you for understanding the real me, revealing the inside of my heart. Help me to be just as understanding with others as you are with me. Thank you for forgiving me when I have judged others unfairly, as that is not my job. Help me to be loving and encouraging and uplifting in all I do. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
written by Jan Andersen
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