Tis the season for Christmas parties, decorating, eating far
too much, ugly sweater contests and yes, the white elephant gift giving
party. Last night at our church, my
family and I attended our first Christmas party with the whole church since
moving there in July. You were
instructed to bring a gift, that was essentially a gag gift, and wrap it nicely
so that no one would know the contents inside this packaged beauty. When your number was called you were able to
go up to the table of gifts and pick one, or steal a gift that someone else had
already gotten. So yes, we had a party
at our church where the joy was to steal someone else’s gift. (I suppose there
could be a whole other blog just about that, but for now we’ll just leave it
alone). I admit it, I stole a gift. I kind of felt bad at first because Lynn is
such a nice lady and has always been so sweet to me, but this urge came over me
to steal that pretty box covered with a big snowman and dangling with red
glittery Santa shoes. The red glitter
just drew me in. It was a wonderful
evening of silliness, laughter and the fun of watching what each person pulled
from their cutely wrapped box or lovely decorated bag. One lady had chosen a sequenced Christmas
stocking that was sure to look wonderful in her home until she remembered that
there probably was a gag gift inside.
Gag gift it was—creepy gift I’d say.
In fact, if there was the creepiest white elephant gift of the night she
picked it. It was an old ceramic doll
truly in need of some clothing, a facelift and surgery for the hole left in her
foot. The look on the dolls face would
scare anyone that walked up and saw her just starring at you.
What I found the most interesting was how people chose their
gifts. The first few numbers that were
called up went to the table and found the most beautifully wrapped gift. One gift even had a flashing, colorful bow
that everyone tried to steal. Of course
no one knew what was in the inside of the box with the bow but they sure wanted
it because it looked pretty on the outside.
The gift I brought was a nasty old ceramic guy that looked like a
hobo—certainly nothing you’d want to display in your home unless it were
displayed in the back of a dark closet, but the wrapping looked nice, so it was
chosen. I keep thinking back to the
sequence stocking that was flashy looking, sure to be a hit but was a dud on
the inside. It was so good for a while
as it sat on the table in all of its wonder……until it was unwrapped and then
the more wrapping that came off, the more ugliness shone through.
Sometimes I feel like we are that way. We make ourselves up to look nice. We even put nice bows in our hair (they may
not light up but they are still pretty).
We wear the most stylish clothes and make people want to choose us
because of how we look on the outside.
It’s all fine and well until the friend or spouse chooses us and they
begin unwrapping us in the form of getting to know who we are, what our
character is, what is truly inside us.
I’ve heard words said about people such as, “They sure looked like they
had it all put together on the outside but then I realized that they are icky
and ugly on the inside.” Isn’t that
sad? All of the effort to make
themselves look good on the outside but they are filled with ick on the inside.
What if we chose to focus on the inside of us? What if we decided that the most important
thing was to build onto what our character is and use Christ as our model? What if we surrendered the junk inside of us
to the grace and love of Jesus and felt as worthy on the inside as we look good
on the outside?
Don’t be like a white elephant gift. Don’t make yourself
look excellent on the outside while the inside of you is rotting away. Take care of what is in your heart, soul and
mind. When someone unwraps you (gets to
know you) let them see the Jesus that is in you, not the ick and yuck inside
you that you don’t have the energy to change. With God’s help you can be the
beautiful one inside and out! Get the junk out of your trunk!
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