taken for granted

as a coffee drinker, i get coffee mugs from time to time as a gift. as was the case last Christmas, when i received two identical coffee mugs, "the golfer's excuse mug". each came in the box as pictured, and each found a place on a shelf.

the first was given from another pastor, and i opened the box, looked at the mug and laughed kindly. i reboxed the mug and it sat in my office

the second, i received from my sister who has in recent years spent a great deal of time and money on our children and us in Christmas gift-giving. when i received the box, i opened it to make sure it was indeed a mug, and it was. with all the other presents given and received, it also found a place on a shelf in our home, until last Saturday night

my wife and i were late to a class Christmas party -- at this time of year, we're attending every party as the pastors. while in the car, Kel remembered we needed to bring two white elephant gifts from home. we hopped out of the car and back inside to quickly wrap two gifts.

i wrapped up "the golfers excuse mug" (sorry sis!)

we were having a great time at the party when the gift-exchange began. a flashlight, a tote bag, a Christmas decoration -- the ususal suspects being opened around the room. the host of our little shin-dig opened the golfer's excuse mug at the urging of my wife (he's a golfer). everyone laughed as he held it up for all to see -- someone suggested he read some of the excuses, so he took out the mug and began to read them

when he went to replace the mug, he saw a note in the bottom of the box, "for a free game"

from inside the note he pulled out a tightly rolled $100 bill

the surprise was on his face, amazement hit the room, and the joke was on me!

our host graciously returned the note, and bill, as i told him i would treat him to golf in the near future -- quite a gift-exchange!

i had taken the gift for granted, after all, i had received a similar one

i think that's what we often do with the Christmas story. we've heard it, read it, seen pageant after pageant, nativity scenes, and sang the story many, many times over. each year we receive a similar dose of the greatest gift ever given...

...and we often take it for granted, perhaps missing a real treasure inside, worth more than a $100 bill

each year our church participates in Christ Birthday Observance theme to help us unwrap the story a little more carefully so that we might find new insight or inspiration each year. i preach according to that theme for the season of Advent, devotional guides are supplied to help underscore it, and all our publicity for the month carries it's theme or logo as a reminder

what are you doing to unwrap the greatest gift ever given a little more carefully? take warning from this comic little event lest you miss out on more than i did