By Danny Minton

Like faded photographs, my memories of gifts I have received over the years have begun to fade. Most of the gifts I remember hold some significant memory from my past. I remember a few Christmas presents from my youth. One year, my brother and  I received Daisy BB guns. We both survived without shooting our eyes out. However, a friend did shoot me in the back with his. Another gift I fondly remember was a Gilbert chemistry set I wanted. I even look for these online to add to my nostalgic memory collection. 

Some gifts I remember came at times other than Christmas. They are gifts that I remember more because of who gave them or why instead of the value of the gift. Under a glass case in my office is a sixty-five-year-old baseball glove. At the time, it cost $12 at our local hardware store. That amount was a lot in 1959. I remember the day that my dad bought it for me. It was a sacrifice of love because I knew money was tight during those early years. The glove has seen many games over the years, but the significance is what it represents to me. Next to the glass case with the glove is another case containing an item from another sport. The case holds a football, used only once in December of 1965.

It’s not valuable to anyone but me; it was another gift of love and friendship. It’s the state championship ball when the Plano Wildcats won the AA state title that year. I was in the hospital with an injury from the week before, and the team decided to give me the ball from the game I couldn’t attend. The value to me is not the ball but the memory of my teammates and the bond we had and still have with one another. A third gift is on the ring finger of my left hand. It turned fifty-five years old this past June. With few exceptions, it has been on my finger day and night since my wife slipped it on many years ago. It has some monetary value, but the love and companionship from our life together for close to six decades is much more valuable. 

Centuries ago, a group of “Wisemen” started on a journey following a star. In their possessions, they carried with them gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The journey took them to the town of Bethlehem, where they found Jesus living with his parents, Mary and Joseph. I’m not sure what the family felt when the gifts arrived, but a poor family receiving gifts such as these must have been grateful and would remember them for a lifetime. 

According to Origen, who lived from c. 185-253, the gifts represented three significant aspects of Jesus’ life. Gold was a symbol of kingship, frankincense a symbol of deity, and myrrh a symbol of death. The Contra Celsum, Book 1 (Origen) refers to gold as a gift to a king, Frankincense as a gift to a God, and myrrh as a gift to a mortal. Another thought about the gifts is not only their value but also what they can be used for by the family. They would soon be taking a journey to Egypt, which the gold could help finance as they fled Herod. Frankincense, according to “WebMD,” has several health benefits. One is that incense can be used to help with breathing, and the gum can help with the pain from dental problems. The Chinese used myrrh for dry and cracked skin. The monetary value of the gifts may have been secondary to how useful they would be to the family.

However, of all the gifts given over the years, one stands out above all the others. It is a gift given out of love to each one of us. There is no monetary value. It can’t be wrapped under a Christmas tree or given to us by hand. However, the value of the gift is worth more than all the gifts we have received throughout our lifetime. It is a gift we have never seen, but we think about it often. We have never held it but carry it with us wherever we go. It is a gift that, although Christians think about each week, the whole world is reminded of during this season. It is the gift of a savior sent to the world to live among us. Jesus would bear another gift to present to us. It is a gift that would be presented to us years later on a Sunday morning: eternal life.

All the gifts that I hold as important will one day be handed down to my son. It will be up to him what to do with them. The one gift I can keep with me is the gift brought to me through a baby born in the lowest circumstances. 

Sometime during the holidays, while you are enjoying family and friends, turn to the book of Luke and read chapter 2, verses 1-21, and the book of Matthew, chapter 2, verses 1-12. Next, turn to the book of Mark and read chapter 16, verses 1-7. 

Finally, give thought to the words Paul wrote to the Romans: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 6:22-23 (NIV2011)

Enjoy your gifts and the memories they hold in your heart. However, most of all, don’t forget the “The Greatest Gift” you will ever receive and the One who handed it to you.

Danny Minton is a former Elder and minister at Southern Hills Church of Christ