Best Gift Of All

The Very Best Gift Of All

Christmas is just around the corner and many people are anxious to choose just the right gift for those that they love. Many people agonize over what to give. We all want to give something special and we want it to cause the eyes of those that we love to light up with joy. We want to give the very best gift of all!

As I considered this, I remembered a story, Christmas Day In The Morning, which was written many years ago by Pearl S. Buck. The story was about a teenaged boy whose father woke him early each morning at 4:00 A.M. It was milking time and he needed his son to come and help milk the cows.

One day the boy overheard his father telling his mother how much he hated to awaken his son so early but he was unable to do all the chores alone. Through hearing this conversation, the boy came to understand how much his father loved him although he had never verbalized that fact to the boy. That morning the boy did his work with unusual enthusiasm because he realized how much his father loved him.

Christmas time was coming and the boy had gotten his father a small gift at the store like he always did but this year he just wished he could do more. He thought and thought about someway he could show his father how much he loved him when an idea came to him. He decided that on Christmas Eve he would do all of the milking by himself as a surprise gift to his father. True to his commitment, he managed to get himself up at 3:00 A.M. and he crept down the stairs and out to the barn. The boy had never done all of the milking by himself before but he found a new energy and excitement in the task before him. He fed and milked all the cows by himself until all of the empty milk cans were filled.

Afterward, he quietly made his way back into the house with just barely enough time to get back under the covers before he knew his father would come in to wake him at 4:00 A.M. As usual, his father came to the door and sadly announced that even though it was Christmas that it was time to get up and do the milking. His father went on out to the barn ahead of his son to get things started.

Of course, when his father got to the barn, he soon found that his son had done all of the chores by himself and he was overcome with joy at the great gift his son had given him. For the first time, his father was able to enjoy watching all of his children come downstairs on Christmas morning. On other Christmas mornings, he had not made it back from the barn before the children awakened. It was a special gift that both father and son remembered all of their lives and I don't imagine either of them ever questioned the unspoken bond of love between them.

The account of the boy and his father tells us that the very best gift of all isn't something that is bought in a store. Like the boy in the story, it takes an overpowering desire to let others know that you love and care for them. That kind of overpowering desire comes from the heart and was demonstrated to us on the very first Christmas. It came straight from the heart of God when He gave the world the very best gift of all!

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

By Pamela Perry Blaine

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