God’s Gifts

When my children were younger, I wanted to teach them to focus on giving gifts at Christmastime, rather than receiving them. With that in mind I began a tradition that we would all make gifts for each other. Many of those gifts were keepers--like the bean bag chair and planter made out of a book--and a few were not--like the Barbie toilet plunger and homemade lava lamp. All the gifts are treasured memories of the spirit of giving Christmas instills.

In her short story “Sharon’s Christmas Tree Skirt,” Tammy Wood recalled a time when her finances were so tight, she made gifts for her family instead of buying them. For her sisters and sisters-in-law, she made Christmas tree skirts out of scraps. When she went to deliver her gift to her sister-in-law Sharon, to her dismay, under the tree was a beautifully pieced tree skirt that Sharon had recently quilted. Tammy was embarrassed by her gift and told Sharon she’d understand if she didn’t want to use it. The next Christmas, Tammy opened her gift from Sharon, and it was the beautifully quilted tree skirt that she had admired the year before.

“(Sharon) had graciously accepted my simple gift and in turn had given us a much nicer gift,” Tammy wrote The gift became even more meaningful after Sharon’s death at the young age of 38.

Tammy went on to say that “the tree skirt became symbolic of the gift of the Atonement the Savior offers us. No matter how good we desire to be, we are all mortal with flaws and weaknesses. We are imperfect, like the simple tree skirt I had given Sharon. In comparison, to the beauty of the Savior’s life, we will always fall short. But if we do our best to offer the Savior a broken heart and a contrite spirit, he in turn offers us the blessings of his beautiful Atonement. We receive something much greater than our gift to Him.”

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ give us many gifts, and we can give in return. The first gift that comes to mind is Heavenly Father’s gift of his beloved Son, his perfect son. As it says in John 3:16—"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

The beautifully wrapped Christmas presents we find under the Christmas tree are symbolic of Heavenly Fathers gift of His Son, the beautiful Christ-babe wrapped in swaddling clothes found, not under a tree, but lying in a manager.

And as we enjoy gift giving and gift receiving this season, let us not forget Christ’s gift to us of offering his life that we may live. As it says in Isaiah 53 “Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows… But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

In the words of Elder José A. Teixeira: “Because He came, there is meaning to our existence. Because He came, there is hope. He is the Savior of the world, and He is our greatest gift.”

I thank the Lord for His matchless, priceless gift, for we know that there is no greater love, than this, that Christ lay down his life for us his friends. (John 15:13)

Two other gifts from God I would like to highlight are prayer and the scriptures. Richard G. Scott said, “If you want to talk to God, pray; if you want him to talk to you, read your scriptures.” I have found this to be true, and I am grateful God provides such a communication.

I work in HR, and I recently had a serious issue with an employee. I was responsible for deciding the consequences of their inappropriate behavior. After days of investigating, on the morning of the decision, I prayed to God for help and wisdom, and the scripture Proverbs 3:5-6 came to my mind. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.” I told Heavenly Father, “Lord, I trust you; I just don’t trust myself.” The 2nd half of the verse came to my mind, “And lean not unto thine own understanding.” I knew the Lord was telling me my lack of trust in myself was leaning to my own understanding. And then verse 6 came to mind, “In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.” This was my answer--to go about my day acknowledging Him and He would direct my path. Trust Him. And that is exactly what happened. I feel that the team was able to come to a just, yet merciful, resolution concerning this employee with the Lord’s help.

Everything that we have is from God—this beautiful world, our lives, our health, our families, our talents and abilities, our material possessions and even our spiritual possessions. The one thing that is our own is our will—God allows us to choose whether we will submit our will to His and say “not my will, but thine, be done” as Christ did, or to choose our own, different path. (Luke 22:42) He allows us to choose our attitude, to choose whether we keep his commandments—all of them—or keep just a few, according to our will.

This season, I invite you to prayerfully consider submitting your will to God’s as a gift to Him. As you do so, you will experience greater peace, greater love, greater light, greater purpose, and a greater capacity to do the Lord’s will, all because of the gift and blessings of Christ’s Atonement.

Christine Fisher is a wife and mother of seven children—six girls and one boy. She has made a few gifts this year but can't tell you what they are without ruining the surprise. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (P.S.—the boy made the Barbie plunger!)