I enjoy everything about Christmas except that I’m not so fond of Christmas shopping. It’s not something I enjoy.
Compared to wife Martha, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage who is the Queen of cash registers, I’m not qualified.
Mostly, I don’t know how to get a present for Martha because she has everything she needs. And for me to find out one thing that she needs for Christmas would be a miracle.
Something happened this week that encouraged me in this line. I got a pre-Christmas gift that I wasn’t expecting.
Martha was using a paper cutter for her Christmas card work in my office. All of a sudden, I heard her groan in agony.
She walked out carrying a paper cutting board, and told me it was broken.
“I’m just going to throw it away and use another board.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, “maybe I can fix it?”
It took her a while to calm down from hilariously laughing. Then she said, “What, you fix something?” and continued laughing.
One of the levers popped out of its socket, and it was almost impossible to put it back in. She handed it to me, walked away snickering, and I began looking at the little board, trying to figure out what I could do.
I thought about this for a while, thinking it would be an excellent opportunity to challenge that image of me. What would happen if I could fix this little cutting board and hand it back to her?
Looking at that board, I didn’t know where to start. You have to know where to start in order to fix something, and I needed to figure how to begin.
After fiddling with it for several minutes, I suddenly saw how it could be fixed and I was surprised at myself. With a little twisting and turning, I could pop that lever back where it belonged. When I did that, the board was back to normal, but I’m not sure I was.
I was so happy I didn’t know what to do with myself. But I called to Martha for her to see what I’d accomplished.
She came quickly, and I handed the cutting board back to her and said, “I fixed it.”
She looked at me, then at the board, and in a low tone, she said, “How in the world did you fix that? Thank you.”
Giving Martha an early Christmas present is a wonderful thing. I couldn’t have found a better one than this. As I was musing over this great gift, I couldn’t help but think of the greatest gift in the world.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
— John 3: 16
Christmas is the celebration of God’s greatest gift coming into the world. During this celebration, I don’t want to forget what God’s gift has done for me. The gift from God is “everlasting life” that comes to those who believe in Him.
Dr. Snyder is a former pastor who lives with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, wife Martha, in Ocala, Fla. His email is [email protected]
