The Greatest Gift

​     I have found that during this time of the year there is a double measure of wonderful warmth even when it is cold outside. The warmth of love and good cheer and soul stirring music fills the air. There is an atmosphere of giving and joy in light of what the Lord said, “It is more blessed to give than receive.” In a few days many of us will be opening gifts or exchanging gifts. With delightful anticipation we will remove the ribbon and unwrap the package then remove it from the box. We will respond in some fashion with a shout, a smile, a deep breath, words of appreciation, or such like. After the initial expression of thankfulness, we usually describe the gift in some way such as charming, lovely, just what I needed, and so on it goes.
 
     We have various ways of describing earthly gifts that will wear out and eventually tarnish. But how do we describe the greatest gift of all, eternal life? The birth of the Christ child changed our world. The birth, the death, the burial and resurrection of Jesus brings eternal hope. Describing this gift to others is important. We need to be careful that we do not let the exchanging of Christmas gifts to and from our loved ones overshadow the greatest gift of all—the gift of love from our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Clark Tatum