The best gifts are those that totally take us by surprise, but with a surprise gift comes the risk of disappointment. Have you ever been disappointed with a Christmas gift? Maybe you didn’t get the thing on your list but got something else instead? A surprise gift makes a great Christmas; a disappointing gift can ruin a Christmas. That’s the great thing about Santa Claus, right? He gets you exactly what was on your list. He doesn’t deviate, he doesn’t try to get creative or sentimental or go out on a limb and improvise; Santa never disappoints you. But he never really surprises you either. But when it comes to gifts, I think that the sweetest and best gift is actually the gift that you never knew you needed, a gift you didn’t even know to put on your list. But someone who knows you best gives it to you, knowing deep down that it is exactly what you need and want. And that is exactly the kind of gift we celebrate at Christmas. The record of the events of the very first Christmas tell us that those who came to the cradle and the manger were seeking something, but they found something they never expected. And ultimately, that is our question on this Christmas. Do we want a Heavenly Father who doesn’t always give us everything on our list, who risks disappointing us in the short term in order to surprise us with a gift we didn’t know that we desperately need?
