Overwhelmed

This Christmas I was reminded of the reason for the season - God's unprecedented, undeserved, grace-filled, loving, saving gift of Jesus. It wasn't the carols, or cards, or weather, or advertising, or even church services. It was seeing J overwhelmed at the gifts that kept on being presented to him throughout the day. You see, when we explained in the morning that there was something special for him at the end of the bed, he was delighted to discover the toy car that had fallen out of his Christmas stocking. That would have kept him happy all day! Then we showed him the stocking... and the fun stuff that he could pull out of it. So before breakfast, J had lined up all his stocking presents and went from one end of the small line to the other, picking up each item and playing with it, before putting it down and playing with the next one. When the presents under the tree were delivered to their recipients, J wasn't sure what to do with himself. We helped him hand out a gift to each person and then we took turns opening them. We even had a half-hour break in present opening because he was so flustered with how many gifts he was receiving. Our PhD budget meant our gifts this year were mostly homemade, and we were blessed with lots of gifts (particularly for the boys) from family and friends. Once J opened the dressing gown I had made him, he put it on, twirled like a model, and then continued opening presents. We had to distract him with toys and invent an excuse to get it off him when he got too hot! Our best present was watching his awe and excitement as each new gift was given and opened. My prayer is that I remember God's overwhelming gift of Christ, and that I wear my salvation through Him all day and every day, even if sometimes it makes me feel 'too hot'!