The Wooden Gift

December 30, 2013

“But we all…are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.”

2 Corinthians 3:18, 2 Corinthians 4:1

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…”

Ephesians 2:8

“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”…

2 Corinthians 12:9

As a follower of Christ, He has been faithful to bring into my life wonderful family members, wonderful friends, most of whom are also Christ followers; but there are some beautiful friends and family who have not yet made a decision to follow our Savior…They are wonderful, talented, gifted, gracious, loving people…And my heart’s desire for them is that they would know and embrace the absolute Truth that the great God Almighty loves them unconditionally, immeasurably, desperately…And that His plan and purpose for their lives involves an intimate relationship with Him, the True King…The Redeemer, The Savior…The Creator of the Universe…

And this great God Almighty, in His love, has given to me my beautiful family and a beautiful circle of friends…And in His sacrifice, He has given to me two life-time friends, (and to you also) one named Mercy and one named Grace; they have been life-changing friends…

The Wooden Gift…

Christmas is a time of divine opportunity. As we all know, it is that time of magical delight when the world exchanges its sometimes dull and dingy appearance for the glow of beautiful lights and the melody of ringing bells…and for eternal seconds…the divine beauty of the season shines its Hope, and its promise into the darkness of a world, which is unknowingly searching for a Savior of Hope…for the Promise of Life…for the Author of Truth…

And for believers in the Christ Yeshua, God’s Son incarnate, it is the time when hearts are reminded of the miraculous Gift of Christmas…The Gift which gives Believers True Life…Eternal Life…Abundant Life…The Gift that brings tenderness, gentleness, patience, love, and Life to hearts which were once hardened…

And for people who do not yet know the Savior, they may also receive beautiful gifts for Christmas…But their gifts are like the wooden deer my children received one Christmas season, empty, and void, until love came…

May I share a story of a Christmas ago…

For a parent, there is nothing more exciting than to bring delight into your child’s life! And I have learned after years of bungling, that it is often in the simplicity that a child finds a fascinating moment. We have laughed over the years as the little ones find greater delight in the wrapping paper and bows and ribbon than in the actual contents of the gift. How many children have been creative with the left-over boxes from a Christmas celebration! Our children would build forts out of the discarded boxes. Our little grand-daughter found a beautiful round box this year which matched her Christmas dress…and she delighted herself as she rolled and climbed into it repeatedly…as we called her “The Baby in the box,” and it was hysterical until she became wedged inside and could not remove herself and began to wail for help! It was hard for her parents to interrupt their laughter to render the help their little daughter needed at the moment! We have joked about just giving everyone “empty boxes” for Christmas! Some Christmas’s I have been tempted to do so when the shopping has become challenging! Some of you can identify.

When our children were pre-school age, I was enjoying the festive season and had left them with a baby-sitter so that I could go and do some shopping. Occasionally, I would bring home little Christmas surprises because their reaction was so fun, so delightful! On this trip, I am not sure what I was thinking, but I discovered a wooden deer, life-size, with a little crate built into its back. My imagination must have been over-working because I began to think of the crazy fun things that could be done with the wooden gift.

It seemed like a fantastic gift for our youngsters and I could hardly curtail my excitement over the wooden passenger in my back-seat as I drove home. The two children met me at the door shouting, “Hi Mommy, did you bring us a surprise?” I could not control myself as I jumped up and down…( a bit extreme) and announced that I had the very best gift in the whole world for them…( boy did I set them up!) and they followed me out to the big blue van parked in our driveway. I climbed into the van and passed the unsuspecting deer out to the two waiting children. Their reaction was deathly silent and I thought little of it as I climbed out of the van back onto the driveway…I just thought they were speechless because of the overwhelming joy they were feeling at the sight of the wooden deer…And then, I heard the cacophony of cries and discontent as they stared at what suddenly to me looked very wooden and very empty. So funny, last week the candy canes had brought such happy faces…and the little mini-stockings were still proudly hanging from their bed-room doors. But for some reason, the little wooden deer had not received a grateful welcome, not even a polite welcome. For a moment, I was thankful that they had never reacted that way to any guest we had brought to our home whether they liked them or not…Whew…

My first reaction was to berate them with a lecture about being ungrateful, unappreciative, even unworthy of such a fine gift of the empty wooden deer…but suddenly, something stopped me…I had even taken a big huge breath to start the “rant”, and instead, I exhaled slowly…

As I look back at the situation, I am absolutely certain that my best friend, “Mercy” showed up in that exact moment. Instead of mommy having a very mad face…and a very angry countenance…Mommy miraculously smiled and said, “Well you guys, you sometimes miss the gift when you just look at the outside…Sometimes the best gifts are those we don’t quite understand at first.” We agreed that we would decorate the little deer and tie a big red bow around his neck and then would set him on the front porch by the front door. After the task was completed, they said good-bye to the little wooden gift and ran off to play, completely over their disappointment.

I sat down on the porch to “ponder” the events as they had developed… “Oh God, thank you that you helped me to control my temper…thank you that you sent “Mercy” to me at that very moment…How many times have I needed your Mercy when I messed up…when I said something…when I did something…when I thought something…And it was through your Mercy and your Grace that I became your daughter…Now, God, please help me to use this as a teaching moment for my children…I want them to be appreciative of every Gift you give…of what we, their parents give to them…of what they receive from friends and family…that they would know in their hearts that every Gift is from you, their Heavenly Father. I know in my heart that this is a teaching opportunity. Lord, please help me. In Your Son’s precious Name…Amen.”

Yes, my best friends Mercy and Grace came for a very timely visit. I am convinced that the Lord kept His promise to hear the cries of a desperate mother who needed some divine inspiration.

The next morning, I was up early and sat drinking a cup of coffee, celebrating the quiet moments of the day…already thanking God for His perfect provision…The children awoke to the normal excitement of a morning the week before Christmas. They joined me in the kitchen. We talked for a few minutes and they finished a little breakfast as I suggested that they join me for a walk outside to get the newspaper. They agreed and put house shoes on and we slipped out the front door. There to their complete surprise, the little wooden deer had two small wrapped gifts in his little rack…one for each child. The squealing began…the excitement rang out into our neighborhood…That was the reaction I was looking for. They gathered the little gifts and I asked them to sit on the step with me so we could talk for a moment before opening the gifts.

And the lesson came…sometimes the best gifts come when we least expect them…they come from places and people when do not expect them…sometimes they don’t look like gifts on the outside…And sometimes, they might not be what we are thinking, but they are special because the giver of the gift loves us. And gratitude, being thankful, is wonderful! And the lesson continued…guided by my best friends, Mercy and Grace…

And the little “reindeer” went from being a little wooden (stiff, unnatural, without spirit) deer, to a beautiful, festive, symbol of love……The little deer continued to bear gifts each morning through Christmas morning, with the last gift being a little nativity scene for each child’s room…A reminder of God’s Greatest Gift to His people…Love changes everything!

We, through the years, discussed how people did not recognize the beauty of God’s Gift through His Son…because the people expected a big strong grown up military king…and God sent a tiny baby in an animal’s manger…We discussed how a gift should be seen as a reflection of the love of the giver…to be appreciated and to be honored…to be valued…

It is funny how our expectations can sometimes lead us astray…how sometimes, we often miss the real Gift…In this world, the real Gift that is lasting…that is meaningful…that is transforming, God’s gift , when Love came!…not the empty wooden spiritless gifts of this world…

And because of love, the little wooden deer continued to deliver small gifts in the mornings preceding Christmas day, year after year, surprising house-guests with small gifts, even continuing its job through our children’s college years. Many lessons were taught through the little gifts…lessons about God’s Love, about His Gift to us…His precious Christ Yeshua.

And now, our grand-daughters have met our wooden deer, who lovingly bears gifts of Christmas significance…And this year as two little grand-daughters hurriedly put on their shoes to run out to the little wooden deer, they were delighted to find four gifts inside, one for each grand-daughter. As they held their gifts in their arms, they sweetly stopped and turned to face the deer, and said, “Thank you Mr. Deer,” and ran back inside the warmth of our home…giggling, feeling loved and excited because it was Christmas!

Once again, my heart smiled, because my friends Mercy and Grace had visited me that day, many years ago. I had no idea that my children would continue to talk about and to remember their experience…and I had no idea that years later, their daughters would experience lessons about gifts given out of love…about gratitude…about the wonderful Gift of Christmas…Christ Yeshua.

I know that even if I had berated and corrected and disciplined my children for being ungrateful, they would have survived…and it certainly would not, or could not have destroyed the miracle of the Christmas Gift from a loving God…but once again, I would have missed an opportunity to entertain my good friends Mercy and Grace…and I am constantly reminded that love covers a multitude of sins…my sins…my children’s mistakes…your mistakes…

We have had years of joy-filled moments of celebrating life and love… the Greatest Gift of Christmas…and I had the opportunity to give the gifts of Mercy and Grace…and I have received the gifts in return when I mess up…or when I hurt…in the moments called life.

I have had the opportunity to experience the feeling of being a parent when my children do not appreciate a gift that I have given…when I have loved…when we have sacrificed…And my heart trembles when I realize that I often do the same thing to my Heavenly Father when I do not appreciate and cherish the Greatest Gift given…and all of the gifts He gives…And it is so ironic that we learned so much about gifts, and love, and appreciation and Mercy and Grace, through a little wooden gift…when love came.

As parents, we have an incredible responsibility and opportunity to teach our children and to lead them to the Greatest Gift ever given. At times, I fail miserably. I recall incidents when I utterly lost self-control and ruined wonderful teaching opportunities, not to mention the hurt feelings from my carelessly spent words and outbursts. I remember feeling utterly hopeless because I failed my children…However, I also remember when Mercy and Grace showed up to redeem the moments.
Apologies followed, smiles, laughter, and hugs came…And I learned from my children’s beautiful and gracious willingness to forgive…and to love. Because we have a gracious, loving Heavenly Father, who sent His Son to Love and to Redeem us…He also saves and redeems our moments as parents, as friends, as spouses, as His children…giving us a new chance at this journey called parenthood,at this journey called life.

Yes, we, Believers, are incredibly and wonderfully blessed to have the best friends Mercy and Grace. I absolutely love how they are the most loving of friends for each one of us…never too busy…never absent…always present…if we will allow them to participate in our lives.

Mercy and Grace…

Dearest friends, I pray that the God of Glory, through His Spirit, will dwell in the hearts of you and your friends and family…His Mercy and His Grace await each one…each heart that searches and surrenders to receive the Greatest Gift… And my heart’s desire for the seeker is that he or she would know and embrace the absolute Truth that the great God Almighty loves them unconditionally, immeasurably, desperately…And that His plan and purpose for their lives involves an intimate relationship with Him, the True King…The Redeemer, The Savior…The Creator of the Universe. I pray that you are encouraged in this New Year as it will be filled with new moments and new chances…

And in His Mercy, His Grace is totally and completely sufficient for each one of us…Be encouraged!

Abundant Blessings and Joy,

Deborah