THE GIFT

Author unknown.
I have tried to rewrite this by memory . I heard this many many years ago and have shared it in Christmas Eve services in many churches. I hope you enjoy. Denise

Through kind eyes he watched as she dressed to go out to the Christmas program. She was faithful to go every year on Christmas Eve. He watched as she reached for her coat and he quickly rose to help her with her scarf and hat. It seems to be getting a bit colder outside and he wants her warm.

He is thankful that the little country church is only a couple of miles away, but every year he just has no understanding of the celebration of the Christ child. Oh, he believes in God but he just cannot believe that God, the God came to earth in the body of a baby to save us from our sin, he just could not believe.

Soon after she drove from the house he started a fire in the fireplace, he so loved the warmth and glow that it produced, and then he settled into his favorite chair with a good book to wait for her return. He had not set there long before he felt a chill. Had the wind changed direction? He gazed out his picture window to see that indeed the wind had shifted and blowing right out of the north and snow began to fall. He did love the winter time and this particular night the snowflakes seemed to come alive under the light over the barn.
He is a gentle man with a rugged face etched with the years of work on the farm. He has a tender heart big enough for all those that know him. One of his favorite pastimes was building houses and feeders for his birds. He loved the birds, birds of all kind and he would stand for great lengths of time watching them flit in and out of the grove of trees just outside his window.

It had only been a very short time since his wife had left and the weather had taken a terrible turn for the worse. Snow became ice and the wind was now gale force and he could not see the barn only 500 feet away.

His mind drifted to his wife, but he had comfort in knowing that amidst the precious folks that she worshipped with, someone would see to it that she did not make the journey home alone.

Suddenly he heard it, pounding against the picture window, he turned again to the window and to his horror he saw them. A large flock of birds had been caught unawares by the sudden storm and they were seeking shelter anywhere they could. The warmth of the fire and the light from the window were beckoning them to come and they began to fly into the window in an attempt to escape the storm....... They were falling into the snow as they flew again and again toward the light. Quickly he hurried to close the curtains and turn off the light in order to deter them from trying to enter.

Quickly he grabbed his coat and boots and headed out toward the barn. If he opened the door to his barn and turned on all the lights they would go toward that light. With the lights on and the huge heavy doors braced opened to withstand the fierce wind, he thought surely they would see that he had provided them safety, but they continued to panic as the storm grew in strength. With the passing of each minute they continued to be violently thrashed in the wind. The grove of trees just outside his window were now heavy with ice and above the roar of the wind he could hear the snapping and breaking of the huge branches that supported the feeders and houses.

He was cold from the freezing rain but he just had to find a way to lead them to safety. He hurried into his barn and into the back room that housed all his tubs and barrels of bird seed, and he quickly grabbed the bucket and filled it to the brim with a mixture of sunflower hearts, black sunflower, striped sunflower, also oats, maize, hemp, safflower, and linseed. He quickly hurried toward the grove of trees where the birds were trying to find shelter, he recklessly poured a ample trail of seed from the grove toward the barn. He struggled against the wind and there were several times that he lost his footing and fell onto the ice covered ground.

The storm continued with 50 mph gusts and after several trips to the seed barrel and a trail of seeds that lay before them, they still continued to struggle with storm that was taking their lives. He was weary.......but he continued to try to somehow reach them and show them the way....... For the next 45 minutes or so he left bread crumbs, crumbled cornbread he found on the counter left from dinner, rolled oats from the cupboard and yet they still died.

Cold and wet and weary he stood in the shelter of the barn. The flood lights from the eve of the barn caused the ice covered ground to glisten....it could have been a beautiful sight but tonight he grieved............So many thoughts racing through his mind what more can I do. He stood helpless. Then, a thought came to him, if I could only become one of them, I could lead them to safety.................

As the realization of that thought burst in his mind and the reality of the incarnation of Christ overcame him and he wept. He stood in that cold barn for how long he cannot remember. The night was cold and dark but something inside of him became alive, and he knew that he would never be the same. He stood gazing into the night anxiously awaiting the return of his wife.

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Merry Christmas girls and as we gather together to celebrate this day we remember:

The Father sent many before HIM to give us instruction, yet we continued to perish. HE then sent Jesus to become one of us, to lead us back to the safety of the Father house.

Jesus came without hesitation. He had been with the Father from the beginning of time. He was one with the Trinity. HE came at the request of the Father. He came and lived among us as one of us yet without sin. HE spoke of the love of the Father and bid us to follow HIM. After all HE once lived with the Father, HE knows the way back to the Father. Follow HIM.

HE is The GIFT........ Let us Rejoice........