I am posting a series of “table scraps,” highlighting words likely used in family gatherings connected with the holiday season. This week I thought I’d take a satirical look at “the Christmas list.”

We are rapidly moving through the month of December and Christmas morning looms larger on the horizon with each passing day. Your Christmas list, once an inspiring collection of vagueness, is quickly turning into an obsession, dictating how you will use your remaining time before that great day of merriment and gift-giving.

The stakes are high in this season of giving.  Money is an object and it’s in limited supply, so you find yourself scrutinizing everyone connected to you.   With so little time remaining, you’ll need to determine the extent of your list this year.  As part of the process, you can’t forget to take into consideration the gift transactions that occurred last Christmas. No doubt there were individuals who you gave gifts to that did not reciprocate. Likewise, persons who were not on your gift list blindsided you with one.

As if scrutinizing the people on your list wasn’t enough, you must also determine the methodology you plan to use for gift selection, especially for that special someone in your life. Do you get him or her exactly what they asked for? That is certainly the easiest and least stressful approach. Hopefully, you’ll consider wrapping it instead of handing over the gift in the shopping bag it came in. Maybe you’ll go the extra mile to disguise the item first, making it less recognizable before you distribute it. Have you considered this approach:  send the person you are buying for out to buy their own gift?

Perhaps it’s more your style to weigh what a person asks for against a gift you think they’d like better. You can develop a reputation as a poor gift giver in a hurry, if you don’t put a lot of thought into your substitute gift. As a parent I learned that substituting a knock-off copy of the toy being asked for made me appear uncaring and out of touch. You could always give the universal gift, good old American dollars, a viable compromise for many gift-givers.

The most risky giving strategy of them all is to give someone a gift that is completely foreign to them. One that they would never have asked for but introduces them to something they have yet to experience. For this strategy to be successful you must really know the person well; their likes and dislikes, personality, interests, etc. A successful gift using this strategy can result in a lifetime of satisfaction or pleasure, particularly if it involves the start of a new hobby, gives birth to a hidden talent or develops a new or different career path.  Some conjecture that only God could give the perfect gift using this strategy (and they would be more right then they could possibly imagine).

So, once you think you’ve got your Christmas list together and you’re about to do that Santa Claus thing: making a list and checking it twice… there are a couple more things I’d ask you to seriously consider.

Does God appear anywhere on your Christmas list? Certainly, He has done something meaningful on your behalf this year. The birth of his son, Jesus, is “the reason for the season.”   But what kind of gift can you give to God? Will you consider your indebtedness settled by simply throwing money in the offering plate this Christmas?

Have you considered giving God the gift of your time? It’s probably the greatest gift you can give to anyone. When you give the gift of your time you are giving away a piece of yourself. God would love you to spend time with him in prayer, hear you sing a song from your heart or read from the Bible He authored. You can give God your time in other ways,too. You can be God’s ambassador by spending some of your time serving others. God is also looking for messengers who are willing to spend a moment telling others what God has done for them. Perhaps you will be given an opportunity this Christmas season to tell someone, “God loves you.”

Well, there you have it. I hope I’ve given you something to think about as you finish off your Christmas shopping. Will you join me in taking a moment to step away from the commercialism our culture so tightly embraces and reflect on the gift that God has given us.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 NIV