I have an internet question for you today: What is the best Christmas gift you ever received? Internet responses included the birth of a child or grandchild, watching children open their gifts, or other special family gatherings or vacations. A few answered the question more practically: a first bicycle, a guitar, a puppy, or a baseball glove. Then there’s the “right” answer that every church kid knows: Jesus Christ.
Personally, my brother was born on December 22, and I was “introduced” to him on Christmas Day. I don’t recall the event, but it is memorialized in a photo. The newborn baby in a bassinet next to a Christmas tree, with a young me looking decidedly unimpressed. I’m sure my mom thought it would turn out differently, that it would be a wonderful “Kodak” moment. I know what I wanted: a pony. I always wanted a pony (later a horse). Never got one.
Most of us have at least one Christmas memory that didn’t go quite as planned. The gift we knew was going to be perfect turned out to be… puzzling. The sweater was two sizes too big or too small. The gadget required a PhD to assemble. Batteries weren’t included. Or maybe the thing we really wanted never appeared under the tree at all, and instead we got … socks.
As children, that disappointment could feel enormous. As adults, we’ve learned to smile politely and say, “Oh! How… thoughtful.” But even now, we still know what it’s like to hope for one thing and receive another.
Christmas reminds us that this has always been part of God’s story. The people of Israel longed for a mighty king—someone strong and invincible, riding a white horse and waving a sword, and living in a palace. What they got was a baby lying in a manger.
It wasn’t what they wanted. But it was exactly what they needed.
That’s how God works. We ask for answers, and God offers presence. We ask for strength, and God gives us community. We ask for certainty in the present, and God gives us hope for a future.
And it all comes to us in the person of Jesus, that baby. “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19).
So if this Christmas doesn’t look exactly the way you imagined, remember that the greatest gifts arrive wrapped in ways we never would have chosen ourselves.
Prayer: Gracious God, you know my hopes and disappointments, my wishes and worries. Help me trust in you even when life doesn’t turn out as planned. Open my eyes to the quiet gifts of your presence, your grace, and your love this Christmas. Amen.
