Shiny Things

I saw an article a few weeks ago that proclaimed it had found the secret to what all 3-year-olds want for Christmas. I didn’t read it because that is not a secret! Everyone knows what 3-year-olds want for Christmas.
​Leave off the expensive tech and toys because everyone three (or maybe four) and under is just as happy with the wrapping paper and the plastic mold the toy came in. Their Christmas is complete if they get sugar and shiny things.
Actually, that is what most people want – things that taste good and look good. But the best gifts don’t always meet those criteria. Getting a fancy watch that tracks your elevation change is a “great gift” but sock are “boring”. But which one will last longer? Which gift will be the most useful? Which one says “I love you” – the expensive gift you could give to anyone or the one that the person knew to get you because they’ve watch your socks grow more and more holes over the last year?
We seem to do this a lot with God’s gifts. We pray for the big, shiny things even while taking the “socks” for granted. Sometimes we even grow angry because the sweet gifts of life go to someone else. Other times we get discouraged because we aren’t getting what we want. So quickly we forget that even during the hard times: we never ran out of socks.
So here’s to 2021, the year we learn to be grateful for socks!