Saturday, December 18, 2010

Wrapping the Box

There is a cute commercial running on TV right now. Grandpa is asking Dad on Skype how the baby likes the present he sent for Christmas. Techno savvy teen shows grandpa that the baby is having a ball with the box and ignoring the present. That happens every year. Babies always play with the box, but as they mature the box is just in the way of what they want. Sure they admire it and maybe even open it gently, (ok not with my grandson's but it could happen). Make it as pretty as you want and they still just want what's inside! All that money and effort gone in seconds, reduced to a pile of rubble. As a small child I remember seeing a huge box under my grandfathers tree. How I wanted it to be for me. Something that big must be wonderful to own. My whole attitude about boxes changed when Aunt Helen (I think) opened it. It was a suitcase! What a dumb gift! A box in a box! Of course I was to young to realize that the suitcase was just a way of announcing a future trip...that was the real gift. For fun I once got the biggest box I could find to put my gift to my sister in. It was ear rings. I used as many boxes in boxes with as much tape as I could find to make it hard to open. Now that was fun! Since I had to get her a gift anyway, I might as well make her work for it! That whole Present/box thing is to often a picture of the season. The real gift of the season, the reason for the season is not the box. As a matter of fact I have never seen a BOX that even remotely could contain the real gift the BOX is supposed to represent.....a real, personal relationship with JESUS, . To often Christians get so wrapped up with the box they never get to the true gift. There is nothing wrong with Boxes, just keep in mind they are ONLY BOXES and don't let them replace the real gift of God, a real relationship with His Son.

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