Growing up, my family did not have a lot of material resources, yet I never recall a time when I was hungry, cold, or without clothing. I remember my Grandma maintaining the family budget in her columnar book, carefully tracking every penny coming in and going out. She would do her grocery shopping with her calculator on top of her list, and if the total for the items in her cart went over budget, she began replacing items on the shelf (invariably, the first things back on the shelf were those items that were primarily for her, such as coffee, and never the treats she had picked up for Grandpa or me). With such a careful and tight budget, you can imagine that Christmas was never an extravagant affair in the Henry household – at least, it wasn’t extravagant in terms of material items.
Yet I can tell you today that I do not have a single bad Christmas memory. Were there Christmases where I did not get those toys I had asked for and desired? Of course – more times than not. But there were always some presents for everyone under the small, artificial, white Christmas tree my grandparents set up on the desk in the living room each year (my Grandpa was allergic to pine pollen, so no real trees in our home). I was not allowed to rip the wrapping paper off of the gifts because Grandma would reuse the paper each year. I would carefully lift up the taped ends and remove the paper carefully so as not to tear it, in order that we could neatly refold it and put it away for next year. In each gift I received, there was much thought and love. I remember one year my grandparents bought me an old Commodore 64 computer system from their eldest son (by this time, the Commodore 64 was already archaic, but to a young boy it was his own computer!). Another year, they purchased an original Nintendo video game system (this was long after the next generation of systems had come out, and these were priced very low in order to move the remaining inventory, but to a young boy it was his own video game system!).
What these gifts represented more than anything was a deep and abiding love for me, a grandchild they had taken in during their retirement years in order to remove me from an abusive home situation with my stepfather. I know it wasn’t easy for them, but I also know they never complained about me or the burden I must have been to them. While we may not have had much in terms of material possessions, our cups overflowed with love for one another. After all, God had loved each of us so much that He sent His only Son to lay down His life for us. My grandparents loved the Lord and understood how they had been adopted into His Kingdom. They lived this out by essentially adopting me into their home and raising me as though I were one of their own sons.
This Christmas, remember that the best expression of love for one another is not in the biggest, flashiest gifts you can buy, but in how we reflect the love of Christ to one another. Just as He laid down His life for my grandparents, they laid down their lives for a young boy in order to raise Him in a loving home that would point Him to Christ. Every one of us has someone we could do the same for. Just something to think about…
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