There’s a hilarious website that lists the most bizarre gifts ever.
It’s called, “Why did you buy me that?”
One young man’s grandmother gave him this . . .
Or . . . there’s this –
“I got married on Dec. 4th 1998, for Christmas I got this book from my new husbands grandmother, the book is about how women can overcome Divorce when their husbands leave them…I still have the book, don’t have the husband, guess Grandma knew something before I did.”
Or this –
“What you are looking at are three fluffy, fluorescent diaries. The kind 13 year old girls write their secrets in. My aunt bought me them for Christmas. I’m a 32 year old, married, mother of two. If I had any secrets I certainly wouldn’t have the time or inclination to fill fluffy, fluorescent books with them. Why three?”
Typically with gifts we give something that the recipient will want. So – – – you have to wonder what the people were thinking when they gave these gifts. Perhaps the grandmother was sending a message with the drug kit. And – maybe the husband’s grandmother really DID know something about her grandson’s intentions to stay married.
Isaiah writes to the people Israel,
6 For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
–Isaiah 9:6-9New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
In sending the gift of the Christ Child, God knew what gift we would need.
A gift of a Counselor . . . someone who could show us what it means to be listened to and loved, despite our brokenness.
The gift of a Mighty God – a God who shows us that the worst things are NEVER the last things.
An Everlasting Father . . . as tragic as death is, we have been given a glimpse and assurance of knowing that it is not the end of our existence, there is life after death and that life is eternal and one of perfection.
And a Prince of Peace – giving us a peace that can live within each of us if we allow it to fill us and also a peace that will bleed into this world in which we live IF we embody that peace ourselves.
Which part of this gift do you need to claim today?
A Wonderful Counselor . . . a Mighty God . . . an Everlasting Father . . . or a Prince of Peace.