Handle With Care

It seems that the day after Christmas is now Black Wednesday, or Thursday, Friday or whatever day the 26^th of December may fall on. Listening to the radio today as I drove around San Antonio, the perky sounding newscaster informed the listening audience that local pawn shops were anticipating a very busy day. Why? Because it seems, that many gifts that were under the Christmas tree yesterday will be pawned today for cash. Cash evidently is still king.

A number of years ago “re-gifting” became a popular fad that still has its whimsical appeal to many. I won’t take the time to explain re-gifting, assuming that 99% of you know what it is. For the other 1% of you here’s a news flash, you have probably been re-gifted.  At its peak I believed that re-gifting was a bit uncouth but not anything to take some moral high road about, in fact I would be less than truthful if I didn’t admit to you that I re-gifted on at least one occasion.(My conscious was eased knowing that it was a duplicate of another gift that I had previously received.)

But this new fad of pawning a Christmas gift the day after Christmas is more than uncouth, it is just sad. It says much about not only the gift receiver but also of the gift giver. Do we think so little of the person that we are buying a gift for that we present them with something that is more worthy of the pawn shop than it is to keep? Or do we think so little of the person that gave the gift that we can part with their gesture 24 hours later? Perhaps if we made more of an effort to know something about the gift receiver then we would be less likely to give them pawn fodder. Or perhaps if we knew more about the effort the giver put forth (assuming an effort was made) in picking out the gift we received we would spend time enjoying the gift instead of exchanging it for money to spend.

I believe Ebenezer Scrooge would enjoy Black Wednesday.

Re-gifting and pawning I believe is also reflective of a “take it-or leave it” attitude towards God that is prevalent today. Our life, our lives and our eternal life are all gifts from God. We can’t re-gift God’s gift, however, metaphorically there are many who pawn His gift every day. They hock it in hopes of getting something better. Oh, they keep their pawn ticket; it is tucked away deep in a seldom used compartment of life’s wallet, the gift receiver believing that one day they will return to Him.

This Gift-Giver deserves more than that.

God’s gifts to man are not made for re-gifting or pawning. His gifts are made with care. His gifts are made with you and me in mind. His’ gifts will never dull or have batteries that run low. His gifts are forever, you can open them anew every day of your life!

God doesn’t hide them in a closet or stow them under a tree. Although His greatest gift to you did, one day, hang from a tree. Christmas is about giving because He gave us His son—Jesus Christ. He is a gift you can receive just by turning and believing.

It is the Gift. The gift that must be handled with care.