Dinner looked (and tasted) good, too...
Christmas is always a special time for my family. Today was quiet, as Christmases go - just my husband, myself, and two good friends. We exchanged gifts, watched the snow fall, enjoyed one another's company (and the company of their dog), then got around to making dinner - a huge pot of paella. (You see less than half of it above...we got a little carried away.) After dinner, we watched a movie, talked some more, had dessert, talked some more, and continued to watch a light snow. Finally the day ended, with phone calls to our son and daughter-in-law - the perfect close, to a wonderful day. And where was the incarnate Christ in all this? Present in the friendship and conversation, present at prayer and in the breaking of bread and sharing of wine, present in the giving and receiving of presents, peculiarly enough. For that custom, though not based in our faith, can be (and in this case, actually is) an opportunity to recognize the other person for who they are. Not who we might wish them to be - but who they actually are. That's how Jesus came, too. Not in the way we expected - not as we might wish - but as he actually is. We best honor him when we offer gifts to him that reflect who he is, not who we wish he would be. May we all, who claim his name, spend time considering what that kind of gift giving to Jesus might look like within our own lives.
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