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Gifts we give to the Christ child

 
 

50646106 - woman's hands hold christmas or new year decorated gift box. toned picture

 

Those of us who work with children most likely have heard all about the gifts they want for Christmas this year. Most kids dream about the presents they will unwrap Christmas morning. And let’s face it—many of us adults have a few things in our minds we’d like for Christmas, too.

We know that Christmas is gift-giving time. It started with the wise men who brought gifts to the Christ child: “On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasure and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh” (Matt. 2:11).

Many of us make a list of the Christmas gifts we’ll get for our loved ones, but how many of us make up a list of the gifts we will give the Christ child?

Remembering why Christ came to earth

Thinking about the gifts I want to give the Christ child, I remembered what grief expert Dr. David Paul Tripp says in the GriefShare: Surviving the Holidays video: “Jesus came to end suffering. He came to end death. He came to end sin and brokenness and pain and destruction and discouragement.”

How often we forget that Jesus came to minister. He wants us to bring the broken, the discouraged, those in pain, and even the destructive to Him. You will find these children in any children’s ministry. But how many of us have thought to give them to the Christ child?

Considering the true meaning of the birth of our Savior, I can think of many gifts to give to Christ this Christmas.  

  •      The hurting, lonely tween whose dad lives across the country and hasn’t talked to or seen her in two years
  •      The angry third-grade girl who told me that she sent her dad a letter asking him not to marry that woman and cried for more than twenty minutes after putting the letter in the envelope
  •      The sad, quiet first-grade boy who won’t engage with anyone but sits by himself, brooding because his mom is getting married again
  •      The child who has an incarcerated father, may not visit his dad until he is eighteen years old, and worries that he can’t remember what his dad looks like
  •      The teenage girl in the blended family who just wants some peace, quiet, and time alone with her mom without the stepfamily crowding in
  •      The young girl who refuses to visit her mom because she does “yucky and weird stuff” with her boyfriend

Gifts from God

Sometimes, I get weary of all the hurting kids, and to be honest, I just want to give up. But it seems that every time I feel that way, God encourages and excites me. This year, He used a letter a child in DivorceCare for Kids wrote, which I found on a table after a session.

I want to share this letter as an encouragement that what we each of us does has meaning and that all our hard work does bring children into the kingdom.

This letter is a gift of hope. I give verbatim what this child wrote in a letter to God.

        Dear God,

Thank You for loving me even when I doubted You. Thank You for sending Your one and only Son to save me and wash away my sins. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

At one time, this child was lonely, discouraged, and hurting from the loss of his dad. He was angry and headed along a destructive path—until he found Jesus. As his Savior has walked beside him, his entire countenance has changed. This child reminds me of the treasures the wise men gave to the Christ child and His mother Mary many years ago, so this year, I am also giving this precious child to Jesus.

As you think about all the children in your ministry, which ones will you give as gifts to the Christ child this year?

 

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