When you’re young, Christmas means Santa Claus and an anticipation of toys, dolls, balls, electronics, etc. that we lump into a big stocking called gifts. At my age, you’ve accumulated more stuff than you will ever need, which leads to puzzling questions like, “What can we get Dad for Christmas that he doesn’t already have?” After a few gadgetry gifts, the kids finally give up and you end up with a gift card to a hardware store topped off with a box of Pecan Delights; which does beat getting some strange present promising to turn earwax into a profitable business.

What Christmas gift sticks in your mind; the one that you can picture as if you received it yesterday? It could have been when you were seven years young or just last year. For me, it was a red and white 26″ bicycle from Sears. It was my dream bike. It had headlights, whitewall tires, and the promise of speed and long lasting fun. I was 10 years young and rode that bike everywhere.

And then it was gone. One day when I came home from college, I discovered that my parents had given the bike away to our retired neighbor. While I was none too happy at the moment, by then I had come to realize that it was actually my second best gift of all time; and that my wonderful bike would eventually escape into oblivion.

My new best gift was a special present that wasn’t wrapped and tagged under the tree just for me. It didn’t rust and fall apart like a bicycle; it didn’t spoil nor have a shelf life; and didn’t require batteries. It’s a one-size-fits-all that always fits and never wears out. I guess it couldn’t really bear a name tag on it since it would be much too small to include the names of everyone who ever lived.

I believe the greatest gift of all time was a baby born in Bethlehem. It is an exceptional gift like no other. It’s a gift that you can open at any time – no waiting for Christmas, or another holiday, or your birthday. Whether you take it out of the box and embrace the gift is entirely up to you. The gift was, and still is, Jesus. If you haven’t opened your gift yet, go ahead, open it early if you like. It’s free, yet priceless.