Velvet Jesus

 

Gift giving season is upon us and everyone approaches it a little differently. In our primarily German immigrant family, most of us are very pragmatic and want a list to check off. However, my brother who was nine years my senior, was very different in his approach to gift giving. With my brother, it was all about the joy he received by giving and the sky was the limit when it came to spending. He could deal with the bills in January(or not). 

He delighted so much in selecting just the right gift that we were all drawn in by curiosity as to what he got us. Sometimes he got creative with the wrapping too. When I was very young,(and we are talking 1960’s), he secretly used his paper route money to buy our family an electric toothbrush set for Christmas. He wrapped the main body in a large package with all our names on it. Then he labeled separately wrapped gifts with our name containing each colored toothbrush head. He kept bragging about his secret present so I snuck a peak before Christmas to find half a toothbrush. Confused sigh. 

Another Christmas when he was older, he came home with a huge present for my mom. He stowed it away and carried on about how surprised she would be. Later, he showed it to me and my dad under a shroud of secrecy. It was a gigantic painting of Jesus done on black velvet. We appropriately carried on about how much she was going to love it, so much so that mom dreamed about that present on Christmas Eve. She claimed that she dreamed he got her a hideous painting of Jesus. Much to her delight and surprise on Christmas morning she found this one to be beautiful and told us about her dream.

I don’t remember what happened to Velvet Jesus but we had him hanging in our living room for quite a few years. My brother was not worried about the eventual disappearance of Jesus because he was excited about the next gift he was going to give. He was such a great gift giver! His excitement made me anticipate opening his gift more than the others every single Christmas. So thinking back, I see that his gifts were not all that great but his delivery was stellar. Maybe it isn’t about the perfect gift but the perfect effort and attitude.

One Right Decision

I have been rescued. And I am rescued on a daily basis. No, I was not a drug addict. No, I didn’t suffer from alcoholism. My demons are covert, they are many and I am under the delusion that I hide them well. They vary and come at me from every angle. They resemble self-pity, anger, bitterness, selfishness, self-righteousness and a plethora of other chains all of which stem from pride. Any one thing on this list can destroy faster than a heroin addiction and I am inflicted with these demons on a daily basis. But God…

Yes, I have been rescued today. And I was rescued yesterday and I will be rescued tomorrow if I choose. All I have to do is make one right decision. I have to let go and give it to God. It is a choice. It is the one right decision. To let Jesus take the wheel even though I grab at that wheel during the stressful moments of a day. But making this choice consistently and daily over the last seven years has brought me peace and joy that has rooted and grown. Most of my days I am not aware of this change since it isn’t one of those bolt-of-lightning type changes. But sometimes I am given a glimpse of someone who is like me who hasn’t made that decision and my eyes see the miracle that God has produced in me and I want this so badly for them too. He is cutting my chains off one by one, replacing each with his peace, love and understanding and I am so grateful. 

I am beginning to understand this verse from the Apostle Paul. 

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.