December 12, 2010:

Ponderings of a Pilgrim PASTOR

“Are You Giving Any Christmas Presence This Year?”

Did you join the crowds getting up before dawn on “Black Friday” eager to get the advertised bargains? I never have, but I understand the impulse. It is very tempting to buy something we want at a great discount.

Apparently, the hordes of Christmas shoppers are making glad the hearts of retailers this year. Sales are up and that’s good for the economy, or so we’re told. I only hope that most people are being careful to afford what they spend. Consumer debt is already a serious problem in our country.

That having been said, most all of us will be looking for something special to give to those we love. We’ll ponder what they might most enjoy and appreciate. The look on their faces when they open our gift will be all the reward we will need for the effort and expense we made.

We’d like to believe that our gifts to others are “memorable,” gifts that will live in memory. But that doesn’t happen very often, does it? How many of the gifts that you and I have received over the years do we remember? Do we still have them? A few, perhaps, but most of them are gone.

What I do remember — and I hope you do, too — are not the presents, the gifts themselves, but the “presence,” the loving memories of those who gave them to me. I see the faces of those I have loved over the years, some of them now long gone, but their memory will always live within me, especially at Christmas time.

I hope we can all give that Christmas “Presence” this year. I hope we can be with as many family members and friends as possible to let them know how much they mean to us. And where the distance is too great, a loving letter or phone call would be good. Skip the e-mails and textings; that’s no real gift of ourselves. Those we love deserve something much more personal. And, if we think about it, the “cost” of such “presence” is minimal, but those who receive will feel they have been gifted with something of incredible value.

Love,
Pastor Dave