The Best Present Ever

 

Thanks be unto God
for His unspeakable gift.
II Corinthians 9:15

All of us can probably think back to favorite Christmas gifts that meant a lot to us at the time. The highlight day at our house, prior to Christmas, was when our Sear's Christmas Catalog arrived in the mail. My sister Kay and I competed for time we could have individually with that precious book. Probably well over half of the catalog was full of toy items. If a toy had been created and ready for sale, it was in that catalog.

Along with the catalog on my lap, I also had in hand a pencil and piece of paper. This was almost an exercise of futility, but it was still worth listing those things a little girl only dreamed of finding under the family's Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Up until about the age of ten, our Christmas days were like many other families in our town. We got some nice toy items on Christmas morning along with gifts that came in the mail from various relatives.

One Christmas I got a play stove. Back then, they were made of a light-weight metal...none of that plastic stuff. My sister got the matching refrigerator so we could add a kitchen to our play house. The next year, I got a doll house (non-plastic, of course) and spent hours with it. It was so durable it even got handed down to the next two sisters. The Christmas I got my bicycle was really a special day except that I couldn't ride it for a week because of all the snow on the ground.

My favorite gift each year, however, up through about the age of ten, was a baby doll. I loved my dolls. I wanted to grow up to be a mom. I not only played house with them, but also played school and church with them as well. I once heard someone say, “Play, for a child, is a form of work although more enjoyable.” Often a child's play leads to their future, so toys parents provide their children at any time are important items. I would have to say that in the way of special Christmas gifts, my dolls were the most precious gifts in those days.

October 2, 1949 dawned with bright sunshine and on the chilly side. It was what appeared to be just a typical Fall day in our town. It was a Sunday and I loved Sundays because I loved going to church and Sunday school. (I've never been able to figure out why many people don't care if they go to church or not). I was ten years old and in the junior girls Sunday school class. My teacher was also my music teacher at my grade school. She liked that I could read notes and that I also sang a strong alto. I had learned to sing alto by sitting with my Mother in church, singing along with her alto voice.

On that Sunday, we had a special evangelist, C. W. Stucky. I'll never forget him and would know him to this day if I were to meet him anywhere except he's in Heaven but I'll still know him. He was very grandfatherly in appearance with the kindest eyes I had ever seen. We junior girls sat on the second pew, center section of the church auditorium...near the pulpit. If we got the giggles or were a little unruly, the “old ladies class” the Loyal Mothers, who sat on the pew behind us, would kindly tap us on the shoulder. That October Sunday was different. I recall listening carefully to the sermon with no wiggle problems. To this day I wouldn't be able to tell you a thing about the sermon. I do remember feeling as if my heart was beginning to warm inside of me, not like I was sick...just warm. The invitation was given to accept Jesus as Savior. A couple of my friends from our class and the junior boys class went forward, but wasn't terribly aware of them at the time. I stepped out into the sun-soaked aisle in my own time as if I were the only person in the auditorium. The sun was terribly bright coming through the window as I recall, but I knew in that moment as I stepped out that something magnificent was happening in my life. I look back now to that moment knowing that Jesus was doing something in my heart that no little girl could explain.

We were taken to a side room where the evangelist and pastor spoke to us. I remember sitting beside my Sunday school teacher who was quietly crying. I felt bad that she was so sad, but now with age understand her emotions more from that time. Even though I felt when I had stepped out in that aisle, I had accepted Jesus as my Savior, I was glad for the pastors to talk with us and share with us further Scripture. I was so happy then to be baptized the following Sunday night as an act of obedience to the Lord.

I know it was only the first Sunday in October and Christmas was yet to come in December, but I was told what a gift my salvation was. I knew it was mine because of what Jesus had done for me on the cross. I have to tell you that the gift of my salvation was not only the best gift up to then, but remains the best even now.

This gift wasn't a gift that could be purchased with money. It couldn't be found in the Sears Christmas Catalog. It wasn't one anyone other than Jesus could give to me. It didn't come gift wrapped. The only material thing I walked away with that Sunday morning was a little copy of the Gospel of John. On the back I had written my name and date that was like a “born-again birth certificate.” I still have that little Gospel of John. It's aged through the years as I have as well, but it's message is still fresh and as new now as it was that day in 1949.

My prayer today for any reader is that of all the gifts you can receive in your life, it is the gift of salvation that can only come through accepting Jesus into your life as Savior. We can all think of wonderful Christmas gifts we've received through the years, but God has given us the very best gift possible...His Son, Jesus. Years can dim some things in our thinking. Maybe some folks aren't as close to that Gift as sometime in the past. A renewed relationship with Him would not only benefit us, but would be of great joy to Jesus, the Giver of the best gift ever given to the world.

Dear Father...You gave us so much when You sent Your precious Son to die for us, giving us the wonderful gift of salvation. Forgive our lack of love and appreciation for all You do for us all the time. Draw us even closer to Yourself in these special days, that we will not only keep Jesus in the center of this season, but fully in our lives every day of the year. In Jesus' name...Amen