GodReflection:
Once again, we are at the close of another year and find ourselves in the 2023 holiday season. It is the traditional season of gifts. Streets, stores, and media all highlight the exchange of gifts.
As a little tyke, only Christmas surpassed my birthday as my favorite day of the year. Because at Christmas time the GRANDEUR and NUMBER of GIFTS I RECEIVED surpassed the presents that accompanied my birthday cake. 
Santa Claus gives gifts along with the routine exchange of gifts during the Christmas season.
Throughout the year gifts celebrate the arrival of new babies and birthdays. Gifts honor brides and grooms. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries with gifts. Gifts of honor are presented to dignitaries.
Then, there are the catch-your-breath-knock-your-socks-off kinds of gifts. These grand gifts tend to carry huge monetary value or be a one-of-a-kind esteemed object. Rarely are these gifts anticipated.
Sacrificial gifts that touch the hearts of recipients often provoke tears of appreciation. Such gifts hold immeasurable value to donor recipients who receive the gifts of life saving hearts, lungs, and kidneys.
To kick gifts up a notch, I think of the One who owns all gifts. God declared,” . . . for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine . . . for the world is mine, and all that is in it” (Psalms 50:10).
Unfortunately, after a life span of far too much self-sufficiency and a lifetime of more gifts than I can list, remember, or deserve; a gift no longer invokes the same anticipation it once did as a giddy child who would leave a cookie and a glass of milk for Santa the gift giver.
Christmas is a good time to remind myself anew that everything within my care is a gift of God. What an ingrate I am to catch myself taking for granted His gifts. I should never receive a gift from this world—including gifts from friends—without the true source of the gift flashing across my mind.
Then, there is THE GIFT. This one moves beyond my comprehension. I don’t even know how to describe the gift. The truth is that an adequate description can never exist on the lips of man or woman.
Amid heavenly tears that flowed in harmony with Jesus’ earthly tears, God sacrificed God on a cross to pay for every sin I commit while I walk on earth. Then after three days, He raised His God-man Son back to life with the promise that I too will experience resurrection. And to think—God gave this gift to me. It’s Jesus.
Best of all, God’s gift of Jesus is available to anyone who is willing to receive it with reciprocal love. What a gift. It’s Christmas—how about a great gift?
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection on It’s Christmas How About a Great Gift?
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