The Real Meaning of Christmas

The Real Meaning of Christmas

Christmas was going to be very slim for us that year of 1959.  Dad, as the pastor of a small, rural Texas church, had explained to my brother, sisters, and me that folks were having a hard time that year, and giving was down at the church.  As a result, so was his salary.  Regardless of the adult concerns regarding finances, to us children, the house was filled with the excitement of a big family, the Christmas Eve pageant at church that night, the church dinner following the pageant, and the few gifts already under the Christmas tree.  It was great to be eleven years old on the morning of Christmas Eve!

Dad had been out early Christmas Eve morning, checking on folks in the hospital, ill at home, or just in need of a visit from their pastor.  Suddenly, the front door opened, as Dad came through the door with purpose and a sense of urgency.  While out and about, he had heard about a family who lived down the street from us.  Their home had burned, and they had lost everything they had together for their Christmas.

Kids, he said, I’ve found a family that won’t be having a Christmas this year, and we are going to share ours with them.  We were all for that, right up until he began talking to Mom.  Honey, I know we were going to have that turkey for dinner tomorrow, but do we have anything else we could have so we could give the turkey dinner to them?  My mom, used to my dad’s loving and spontaneous generosity, assured him that we could do chicken.  We began to help Mom put together all of the makings for the traditional Christmas dinner which had been scheduled for our table the next day but which was now going to the family down the street.  Suddenly, we weren’t quite as excited about sharing our Christmas as we had been a few minutes earlier.

Next, Dad asked us what we thought about taking them our Christmas tree.  Now, this was not just any ordinary Christmas tree.  It was a tree someone had given us, and it was the latest in Christmas trees.  It was a foil Christmas tree, permanently decorated with red, satin balls, enhanced by a floodlight and color wheel of rotating colors of plastic, making the tree appear to change colors.  To display the tree, one simply pulled it out of its box, complete with decorations; to store the tree, it simply went back into the box.  We four children could not imagine Christmas without a Christmas tree.  After much discussion, we agreed to let our tree go, but only after Dad promised to scour the area for a live, green, replacement tree – not an easy task in Texas on Christmas Eve.  The Dallas area is a little short of trees, anyway, and the only trees that could be found so late in lots were sure to have only three limbs, with two of them on the same side.  Sadly, we watched our tree going into its box.

Finally, we got down to serious business:  Gifts.  Since Christmas gifts were scarce that year, each of us had only two boxes wrapped and under the tree.  Dad then asked us if we wanted to share one of our two gifts apiece with a family that would have none otherwise.  Dad began to share with us that God’s Word teaches in Galatians 6:2 that we are to bear one another’s burdens.  That was what Christmas was really all about.  God had so loved us that He had given us His Son.  He asked if we were willing to give to others with the same love.  At that point, even at our young ages, we knew the battle was lost.  If God gave us Jesus, how could we refuse to give others one of our gifts.  Besides, we thought, that still left us one gift apiece. 

So, we each picked up the gifts, shook them, figured out which was the heaviest, and – thinking that was the gift we would keep – we gave them to Dad.  He began to pack our chosen gifts into a basket.  As we protested, he once more began to patiently explain the principles of Christmas:  God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…  He reminded us that out of our gifts, we are to offer our best (Numbers 18:29) and that whatever we have done to the least, it is the same as doing it to Him (Matthew 25).  He said, Babies, you aren’t giving these to this family; you are giving them back to Jesus.  Do you give Him your first choice or your last choice?  Again, we knew the answer.

As we packed the car, Dad and Mom prayed for the family to have a receptive heart and asked God to help us to understand that Christmas is, indeed, all about giving, rather than getting.  Together, we all drove the short distance down the street, unloaded the car, and knocked at the door.  A woman, surrounded by small children, came to the door.  My dad introduced himself and all of us, explaining that the Lord had moved on our hearts to share Christmas with them.  As she saw the gifts, the meal, and tree, she began to weep, opening the door for us to enter their house.  Suddenly, the entire home was awash with tears:  They were crying because they weren’t going to have a Christmas, and, now they were; we were crying because we had been going to have a Christmas, and, now, we weren’t – or so we thought.

As we entered the living area, we met the husband and father.  My dad went over to him, pulled up a chair, and began to talk softly with this man who, for a moment, was in a place of such pronounced need.  Suddenly, I heard my dad say, "Sir, we didn’t just come here to share our physical blessings with you for Christmas.  We came to make sure that you, personally, know the One who is the reason for the season.  Could I tell you about Jesus Christ who loves you more than life itself?"  As Daddy sat by that father on Christmas Eve, he told him about the importance of a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  When we left, that family had received so much more than anything we could have ever given them.  They had hope, a promise, and a future, which would last far longer than the meal, the gifts, and even the tin foil Christmas tree.  We kids, too, had received a lasting gift:  Our parents had taught us the importance of giving, rather than receiving, of seeing past the perceived need, of never missing an opportunity to share Jesus with others, and of setting an example of God’s love in action.

This Christmas, as you give of your time, your talents, and your treasures to those around you, don’t forget to give the gift that really matters – the love of Jesus, the real reason for the season.

Next week's post - "The Rest of the Story – Christmas Eve, 1959" - proof that you can't out-give God!

© 2010 Gerry Sisk

(12/15/10)