Pastor Lee Phillips
January 1, 2022
What is the Gift of Christmas?
As we begin a new year it is possible, in fact probable, that many of us will certainly lose all but a trace of the spirit of Christmas as we lay it aside to look forward to an uncertain future. It seems many of us will experience a mixture of feelings about the future such as joy, excitement, fear, hope, anticipation, and so forth. We are prone to make the mistake as we approach the new year of laying aside the gift of Christmas much like a child who tires of his or her new Christmas toy. Thus, it ends up at the bottom of the toy box or under the bed or some other place where it is neglected and forgotten while it collects dust. The gift of Christmas is one we should keep with us always no matter if it’s the beginning of a new year or during the end of the year when Christmas is close at hand, and all those months in between the beginning and the end of the year. But I have a friend who shared a story with me a couple of years ago which sums it up very well.
Back before elementary schools had nurses, part of a teacher’s job was to test their students’ vision and hearing. The teacher used an eye chart for the vision test, which was not at all difficult to administer. The hearing test was more subjective. There was one teacher who would bring in the students one at a time for the testing. The teacher would then have the student stand with his or her back to the wall while she would stand with her back against the opposite wall, facing the student across the room. The teacher would then have the student cover one ear while she would whisper a sentence to the student. This was followed by the student repeating back to the teacher what she or he heard. Then this procedure was repeated while the student covered the other ear and listened with the one which was originally covered. This time the teacher would whisper a completely different sentence to the student followed by the student once again repeating what he or she had heard back to the teacher. The teacher made sure she did not use a sentence twice so that none of the students could warn classmates yet to take the test what she was going to say.
One of her students was a girl who had a speech impediment, and whom other students often made fun of and ridiculed. When she covered one of her ears and listened with the other to what the teacher was whispering, she heard the soft and loving words, “I wish you were my little girl.” Those words were words that changed the little girl’s life. For the first time she felt truly loved and significant. In fact, she grew up with the confidence of knowing that she was loved, and it helped her tremendously in becoming a loving and caring person herself, no matter the circumstances she found herself in. This is the gift that has been given to us, the gift of God whispering to us that He loves us and wants us. May we never forget that, especially since we know not what the New Year will bring. We can, however, know that God loves us and wants us more than we think possible. Let us not lay that aside and forget it for we will surely need it in this New Year.
Pastor Lee
