“Can I keep it at home?”

Some thank you notes come in the form of a little boy keeping his new book tucked under his arm wherever he goes, every now and then returning to me to ask with anxious hope, “Can I keep it at home?”

“Yes, buddy, that book is yours.”

I know for some Christmas gift-giving is just one more burden or one more reminder of finances already stretched too thin. I have to confess, however, that I love it.

It’s kind of a game for me, the challenge of searching out that herd of unicorns, the gifts that fit perfectly for both the person and my budget. Part of my delight on Christmas eve, of course, is seeing the light of candles raised in a darkened sanctuary. I hope you will not think me less than spiritual when I tell you that part of my delight is also seeing the light on the faces of loved ones when the gift is just right.

The best gifts are the ones that make you feel seen. The ones that show that they know that you love coffee or cherries or your dog. We receive it as a heartfelt gift because it is a “heart-seen” gift. They know us. They know our hearts.

As I pondered this in my own heart this morning, I realized that too many of us spend too much of our time trying to avoid being seen. If people only knew, we think… and the rest of that sentence is never good.

If people only knew how much I struggle…

If people only knew how thin and confused my faith feels….

If people only knew how hard I work to make myself look like a good person…

If people only knew the times I’ve failed…

No matter how different the words are, every single one of them comes wrapped in the same shame that declares that we cannot be seen for who we truly are.

People will not like us. People will not love us.

Now you may think this an odd meditation for Christmas Day, and yet it’s not. God chose the helplessness of being carried in Mary’s body for nine months. God chose the vulnerability of being a newborn completely and profoundly at the mercy of the adults around him.

It was such an outlandish choice that surely the angels were shaking their heads at the thought of it all and some wondered if an intervention might be in order.

It was an outlandish choice made for the sake of an extravagant love.

For us.

God sees us, knowing if we like coffee and cherries and love our dogs. God also sees all we feel we need to hide. God sees what shame would try to cover.

And God’s response to any of it and all of it is to love us.

Outrageous love. The kind of love where a person risks everything for the sake of their beloved, except here God risks everything to become a person because we are so beloved.

So treasure this gift this Christmas Day. Tuck it under your arm and walk around with it, and know that you can take it with you. You can keep it in the home of your heart.

Because it’s yours.

Forever.

https://www.heartcallings.com/blog/Christmas