Suppose that a new fad was to wrap your gifts in anything other than wrapping paper. With what would you wrap your presents?
If I had lots of time, I would knit little bags so that each present looked like a little stocking.
It was the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, and the manager of a certain department store hired Santa Clauses to stand outside the store. A few days later, business was so brisk that he hired others to stand there too. A week before Christmas, buying was at an all-time peak, and the manager engaged still more Santa Clauses, so that his store was veritably surrounded by men in red suits ringing bells and wishing people “Merry Christmas.”
On Christmas Eve, the manager called in all the Santa clauses and gave them their pay envelopes. When they opened them, they discovered that they had all received the same amount.
“Hey!” demanded the ones who were hired first. “What is going on here?” We have been pounding the pavement outside this store since Thanksgiving. We should have had a lot more than these other men.”
The second group agreed. “And we should have had more than these last bums!’ they said. “We have frozen our cans off a week longer than they did. It isn’t fair to give us all the same pay.”
“Why not?” said the manager. “Haven’t I paid you what we agreed to? And besides, isn’t this what Christmas is all about, that we are dealt with not according to our merit, but according to grace? So don’t let it spoil your Christmas. Rejoice in the gift of the Savior!”
-Parables for Christmas by John Killinger
I love this parable, because it once again reminds me of the true importance of Christmas. Even in the midst of the frantic last minute shopping and preparations, I don’t want to forget to rejoice in the gift of the Savior!
Let the stable still astonish:
Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes,
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain,
And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough.
Who would have chosen this?
Who would have said: “Yes,
Let the God of all the heavens and earth
Be born here, in this place?”
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
Of our hearts
And says, “Yes,
Let the God of Heaven and Earth
Be born here –
In this place.”
I think aluminum foil would work nicely to wrap with, though burlap would look homey.
ReplyDeleteThe parable does highlight our sense of entitlement. But I'm thankful that I've never received what I deserved - always much more.
Mmm I think I'd wrap every gift in a gingerbread house. You'd have to eat your way to the present - it'd be delicious!
ReplyDeleteMaybe all presents could be wrapped in Sanibel shells. It might make it harder to give big presents, but that’s not the only upside.
ReplyDeleteI don’t see why you don’t wrap the paper in the present. That way, it’s a nice surprise when you find the fun paper inside.
ReplyDelete