'Tis the Season

December 15th is upon us. 9 more days to Christmas Eve. 10 more days to Christmas. 11 more days to the Day After Christmas, which most retailers will tell you is the single most hectic retail day of the year, even over that of the so called Black Friday. But why? Why should December 26th strike fear in the hearts of Target employees nationwide? The answer is simple: Returns.

Hundreds of thousands of carefully selected, researched, and purchased gifts will be brought back from whence they came because we simply just don't want 'em. Mickey Mouse Popcorn Poppers, Bathrobes with fuzzy Teddy Bears, and a whole host of gadgets, DVDs, and other gifts that leave many asking themselves "what were they thinking?" will be unceremoniously heaped back upon the very same counters from where they were purchased. Temporary caretakers of singing robotic Snowmen & food dehydrators will ask that they be refunded for the mistakes their friends and family made and given the opportunity to shop for things that they actually wanted. The story goes that all the returned merchandise brought back to Targets nationwide eventually ends up in rows and rows of shopping carts in the storerooms creating a caravan overflowing with the failure of Christmas. The reality is that in a season when we champion & celebrate the spirit of giving manifesting with presents under the tree we must come face to face with the reality that some people just don't want what they have been given.

Let's set aside the clothes that don't fit or the DVDs that won't play & ask ourselves about the opposites of December 25th and December 26th. How is it that a mere handful of hours can drastically change the spirit and nature of what we have come to call Christmas? During this short period of time we make the judgment on what gifts we will keep and what gifts fail to meet our expectations or needs sometimes even before the fire dies out. I believe that this is a problem not about givers and receivers rather about what we have come to expect out of the gifts we have been given.

Gifts exchanged at Christmas or any other time is about what one person wants for the other. I give my Dad book because I want my Dad to read this book, to enjoy it, to be glad that he got it. Sometimes he won't be interested in the book, sometimes he might have already read it but I wanted him to have it. We receive the gifts we have been given because for some reason (and sometimes it is very mysterious) somebody wanted to give them to us. We might not know we wanted it, we might not know why we got it, but someone thought that we should have it. As we reflect on the "reason for the season" as we often say about the Christian celebration of Christmas we recognize that the birth of Jesus was a gift given to the world that much of the world didn't think it needed. The Baby born in Bethlehem was the single greatest gift of God and this life changing gift was first recognized by the lowly Mary and Joseph, and the Shepherds, and not the rich, the powerful, the popular who sets trends. This child comes to us because God gave Christ to the world in a way that befuddled many but God wanted reconciliation with us before we wanted reconciliation with God. Maybe we all thought thousands of years ago that a Savior born of Mary in a manger was a Savior that we would gladly return for something more to our liking yet this was God's plan for us.

Merry Christmas!