Have you noticed the relative importance of gifts in our society? Has the quest for gifts come down to, "I just don't know what to buy for you". For the next few days there will be a frantic effort to find the perfect gift for someone special or someone not so special to whom we feel obligated to give a gift. The retail establishment is built largely on this frantic search. The advertising agencies make products glow with appeal for the gift giver and receiver. We have decided that without that special gift we cannot possibly be happy. Credit cards have allowed people who couldn't afford "have-to-have luxuries" to be able to purchase them and spend their hard earned sustenance dollars paying for that special gift for months or years. Children have developed techniques to get the gift they want. The technique quickly grows very tiresome when it extends beyond one gift to an everyday tirade in every store. Sadly we live in a world of excess whereby we want all that the world has to offer and we obsess over the "newest gotta-have thing". We have assessed a personal worth to the gifts we give and receive. Having to give something special to show "how much we love a person" is a bit absurd yet the mindset is common. If we give and receive gifts using this mindset has anyone ever loved you that much? Has any gift made you so utterly happy that you always remember it as the perfect gift? O. Henry in his short story, Gift of the Magi, has a unique take on gift giving and love whereby a young couple are in a quandary to be able to afford what they consider the "perfect" gift for one another.
Perhaps that's where it all started; Magi, the wise men, came bearing exotic gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh for the baby Jesus. They came to pay homage to the Christ child. In Matthew 2:11, Today there has been born to you in the city of David a deliverer-the Messiah, the Lord."; God provided the "perfect" Gift, a Gift that can never be equaled. In relative terms this Gift is truly unforgettable. Although we try to obscure the true meaning of Christmas with the mindset of gift giving and all that it entails; the truth cannot be obscured. We celebrate Christmas to honor the "perfect gift", Jesus Christ our Saviour. Christmas is all about Love, the simplicity of Love, our greatest gift to one another should be Love. This Christmas have a grateful heart for the best Gift of all, Jesus Christ.
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