“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure…”

2 Corinthians 4:7a

Here it is the middle of July and I am already thinking about Christmas.  For me, Christmas is such a wonderful time of getting together with family and friends, decorating the house, making candies and cookies, searching for that special gift that will be cherished by the receiver for years to come.  Sadly, for many, Christmas is a stressful time of realizing how little they have and how little they have to give. And still, for others it is a selfish time of anticipating what and how much they will receive.  Few take the time to remember that Christ is the greatest Gift we have ever received and the greatest gift we could ever give.  I was thinking back over Christmas’s past and remembered a very sad and very true story…in fact it is one of the saddest stories I have ever heard.  One Christmas, several years ago, my mother had 5 or 6 small foster children.  She sat them down on the couch and, one at a time, asked them, “What would you like for Christmas?”  She got a variety of answers:  a doll, a train set, power rangers, etc.  Then she got to the last little boy, “Honey, what would you like for Christmas?”  At this point tears streamed down my mother’s face as she finished telling me the story.  This little 5 year old boy’s empty eyes stared out at something my mother could not see as he said, “I would like a box of my own.”  My mother was a bit confused and asked him what he meant.  The small child said, “I need a big cardboard box so when I have to leave here, I will still have a safe place to sleep.” My mother’s heart broke in two as she wrapped her arms around this little angel – realizing she could never fully comprehend the life he lived prior to coming to her she told him that he would never have to worry about where he slept again.  She kept her promise by finding him loving adoptive parents. 

We live in a society filled with empty people who are looking for something to fill their empty boxes to protect themselves from the destructive elements of this life.  Because we are all fragile “cardboard boxes” we are easily broken down by shattered dreams, hopes lost, physical disabilities, abuse and by our own humanness.  When the focus is on the empty box…despair is the natural result.  But as Christians, we have the secret to overcoming despair; for kept inside our broken, fragile box is a Gift, a priceless treasure of immeasurable worth (2 Corinthians 4: 7-12 and 16-18).    And this Gift is a light that shines out through the cracks and flaws of our ordinary lives.  This is a Gift that is received and One that must be given in order to experience the fullness of the treasure. Though we are frail and fallible human beings, God has entrusted us with the valuable message of Salvation through Jesus Christ.  That is why I never give up.  Though my body is broken, scarred, cracked and chipped from my life’s experiences, my spirit is being renewed every day because of that Great Gift inside of me.  The outward will continue to diminish but the inward will continue to shine forth to offer this hope to others.  For this treasure can fill the emptiest boxes and give hope to the most hopeless.  I plead with you to not wait until Christmas to freely give this Gift that you have freely been given.