The Unused Gift

 

Chapter 23 The Unused Gift

From Other Little Ships

Did you get that ugly tie? That cheap perfume? Did that chain turn your neck green?

Unnecessary, unneeded, unwanted Christmas gifts. Too big. Too small. The wrong color. The wrong . . .

Take them back or just stash them away in the unused gift graveyard? Is it really the thought that counts? Yes.

You and I, in our personal idiosyncrasies and eccentricities may deem the offering inappropriate or undesirable, but let's never be so crass as to miss the point, the blessing, the thought.

And by the way . . . what in world was that last Wise Man thinking? What has HIS thought? He brought MYRRH to give to a newborn baby!

Embalming spice. Burial spice. Grave cloth perfume. Mary's thinkin', "I hope he kept the receipt!"

But she smiles, nods her head in polite acceptance. A look of bemused appreciation crosses her face.

After the Magicians leave she rewraps the gift. (Joseph is giddily recounting the gold -- more money than he's ever seen in his life!). She stows it away with a concluding comment of, "Can you imagine?"

Time passes. Over thirty years later this same Mother is traveling to Jerusalem. A deep foreboding Spirit leads her to dig out that ludicrous, morose, unused Christmas gift and pack it along with her trip necessities.

Arrival. Crisis. Tragedy. Brokenness. Weeping. A mother's greatest nightmare.

And then it's nearing dawn on the saddest Sunday of her life. She has unpacked the jar. She's waiting to be joined by other grieving, faithful women. Mourners.

She sighs deeply as she hears a gentle, hesitant rap at the door. She blows out the candle. The dim first light guides her hand as she reaches for the haunting burden she has saved all of His life. Received in a happier time. Kept for this very day. Given for this very reason.

Many, many times over the years she has secretly prayed a mother's prayer that she would never use this unusual gift.

She never did.