What do you want for Christmas? Have you made out your list? Have you been shopping to see what you may want this year?
We enjoy gifts. I do. I still get excited about opening gifts. Gifts say a lot. They are windows into our soul because they reveal what our true desires are. Gifts tell us that we are appreciated by those who give them to us. Gifts tell us that some one has been thinking about us. It takes time and energy to shop for people. Some of us are hard to shop for.
What do you want for Christmas? Once you’ve made your list, you have to tell someone. If you don’t tell any one, you won’t get any presents! So, children tell their parents. Parents tell their children. Lovers tell each other. Friends tell friends. And when we have told everyone what we want for Christmas, we anxiously wait for Christmas to arrive.
Have you ever received a gift you didn’t ask for? When you were a child, did you ask for clothes? Men, do you ask for ties?
I remember when Lisa and I lived in Snellville, GA my parents gave each of us gifts that we did not ask for. They were called The Club. Daddy and Momma meant well. They were concerned that my truck or Lisa’s car might get stolen since we lived in the Atlanta area. I think we used them maybe twice. They were certainly gifts we did not ask for. Needless to say, the excitement we had for Christmas gifts that year quickly diminished.
What do you want for Christmas? If you don’t want to receive gifts that you don’t want, you’d better speak up soon. Or, act like you’re very pleased.
In a Winnie the Pooh Christmas video, the Pooh and his friends decide to write Santa a letter telling him what they want for Christmas. They shop like most of us. They write the letter on Christmas Eve and send it to him. Every one knows what he wants except little Piglet. Pooh wanted honey. Tigger wanted a snow shoe for his tail so he could bounce in the snow without sinking. Rabbit wanted a new fly swatter to kill the bugs that were eating his vegetables. And gloomy old Eyor wanted a new house. Christopher Robin wanted a new sled. But poor little Piglet didn’t know what he wanted for Christmas.
A lot of crazy antics take place including the letter not getting mailed to the North Pole. So, Pooh leaves for the North Pole to hand deliver the letter to Santa. But he can’t make it. While he’s gone the others choose a tree and with the help of Gopher, cut it and set it up. They decorate the tree and with great anticipation and excitement, talk about the gifts that Santa will bring them; everyone except Piglet. He is sad because Pooh will not be there on Christmas day. And besides, he never wrote anything o the list, because he couldn’t decide what he wanted.
Just as the sun begins to rise over the horizon, Pooh returns. He apologizes that he didn’t get the letter to Santa. Every one is excited to see Pooh and welcome him back and that having him there is better than any gift they could get. About that time, Christopher Robin arrives on the scene on a new sled that is loaded with gifts for each of his friends: honey for Pooh, a fly swatter for Rabbit, a snow shoe for Tigger, and an umbrella for Eyor to keep the snow off him. Christopher Robin then hands a strange looking contraption to Piglet. He is excited to receive it and tells Christopher Robin that even though he doesn’t know what it is, he is grateful. The best gift they received was the realization of the gift they have in each other.
In today’s scripture, we heard that Mary was given a gift she didn’t ask for. Now keep in mind, the gift she was given was a gift she wanted. Every Jewish girl wanted to marry and have a son. The problem was Mary wasn’t married. The timing of this gift was way off! Also, keep in mind the angel appeared to Mary before Christmas became a holiday. It would be the birth of her son that would later be celebrated as Christmas.
Can you imagine what must have been running through Mary’s mind? What about the emotions? She was excited that God would send an angel to her. Honored to have been chosen to give birth to the Messiah, God’s anointed one. Thrilled to know that she was going to have baby. “How will I tell Joseph?” “Will he think I’ve been unfaithful?” “Will he believe me when I tell him about the angel?” “I wonder how Momma will receive the news.” “Poor daddy!”
The announcement of a pregnancy brings many responses. For some it is an exciting time. For others, it is a time of worry. And for a few, it is a time of anger.
Along with the announcement comes the reality of change. Somebody’s life is about to change forever.
I remember a year that my family received three gifts we didn’t ask for. It all began the day my sister asked me to take her to the local health clinic one morning before school. It was the fall of my senior year and of her junior year. She told me that she thought she was pregnant. I waited in the waiting area while she disappeared to the back. A few minutes later she came out grinning from ear-to-ear. My immediate thought was, “Whew! She’s not pregnant.” On the way out the door I said, “Well, are you pregnant?” I needed to be sure. I can still see the smile on her face when she said, “Yes. I just dread telling Momma and Daddy.”
I imagine my sister, Lisa, felt a lot like Mary. Excited. Scared. But, mostly excited.
The day she and Ronny told my parents was a hard day for them. My parents were not the least bit happy. In fact, they were crushed. I’ll have to admit, I was shocked myself when Lisa asked me to carry her to the clinic. Not my little sister. She would never do that! I can only imagine the shock, most of all the disappointment my parents were feeling. The funny thing about that day was that while Lisa and Ronny were telling my parents, my brother, Tim, and I were outside target shooting with our guns. Tim commented that we probably should hide all the guns.
Christmas that year wasn’t easy for us, especially Momma, Daddy, and Lisa. There were many arguments and a lot of tears. I remember Lisa telling me that she couldn’t understand Momma’s response. She said that Momma told her she should be ashamed. With tears in her eyes, my sister told me, “I’m not proud, but I’m not ashamed.”
Somewhere along the way, God gave my parents, my sister, and my new brother-in-law a gift that wasn’t on our Christmas list, but one that we all needed. He healed the hurt feelings. He deepened the capacity to forgive. He restored their relationships. Lisa and Ronnie got married. He was the second gift that wasn’t on our list. Momma and Daddy received and son-in-law and my brother and I received a brother-in-law. The next May, my family received the third gift that we had not asked for. My nephew, Dustin Ray Watts was born.
What do you want for Christmas? This may be the question we ask each other, but it isn’t the question God asks us. God asks us, “What do you need for Christmas?” My parents thought Lisa and I needed The Club. Winnie the Pooh and his friends thought they knew what they needed for Christmas. And even though Piglet didn’t know what he wanted Santa to bring him, he got just what he needed. God gave my family exactly what we needed for Christmas 1981, even though we didn’t ask for it.
Gabriel’s announcement to Mary was more than an announcement concerning the birth of a baby. It was God’s way of saying to the world, “I’m going to give you the gift you need, not the gift you want.”
What do you need for Christmas? In addition to the Christmas wish list you make and give to your family and friends, why not make a Christmas need list and give it to God.
