Back Scratchers

“All the Christmas presents in the world are worth nothing without the presence of Christ." -David Jeremiah


I love this quote for it reminds me of the Christmas's in my life where I found myself disappointed.  

As a child my Dad was always drunk on every Christmas's which meant we kids and my Mom lived in fear of a beating, which usually came.  Had it not been for a couple of relatives and the American Legion Christmas party along with a few churches who did things for low income kids we would have had no Christmas. 

This disappointment I took into my adulthood so it was always a struggle for me to get excited over the traditions of Christmas. 

 We were married 12 years without children which also makes for disappointment. I mean, isn't that suppose to be the greatest joy, watching your children open their presents.  Then came the  food that took a couple of days to prepare, eaten in 20 minutes.   And It never failed that one of the children's toys broke that very day, disappointment again.  

Before you get sad for me I want you to know I do not look back in sadness at past disappointments.  I believe they are the stepping stones I needed to instill a hunger for something besides the earthly to fill that disappointment hole inside of me.
 Disappointments come to everyone, believers and non believers alike.  In this world you will have trouble, it's a given.

At age 35 I became a believer in the sweet gospel and from that point on my perspective of Christmas change. We still give  gifts, cook tons of good food,   enjoy what ever family that comes around on Christmas but behind all that does dim in light of the love of God for us as the Christmas story is read.

My Grandma and Grandpa were believers so I know at some point in my life I heard that Christmas story read but when a heart is living in disappointment it's hard for truth to get through.  Disappointment saddens us and even can makes us so angry we make others pay for our past and present disappointments.  Disappointment focus is all about me, what I did not have, what I did not get, what I think I deserve. When we focus we sit ourselves up for disappointments.

One way to get over personal disappointment is to get involved in others lives.  You find out rich or poor,  everyone has disappointment.  Even though my childhood years were rough I have met many who have had it worst and still having it worst than I did.  My past does not own me, God owns my past, He knew how often I would be disappointed and He knew if I turned them over to Him He would make something beautiful with them.

I can get excited over Christmas now, and I don' t mind not having a lot of money to buy everything I want to buy for my Grandchildren.  God has never let me experiences having too much money, not sure I could handle that. But I can handle a little money and the challenge in trusting Him to give me ideas for fun gifts.  This year I bought everyone, from our 3 year old grandson to the oldest a back scratcher for one dollar apiece.  I am going to put their names on them.  You might think I am cheap and do not have enough money for  more then a dollar gift, trust me I do.    Here is the fun part.  Everyone uses my back scratcher and when they do, they will say, I need to get one of these. My grandson gave me one a couple years ago.  What better gift to give then something they need.  And as we sit scratching our backs around the tree, the sweet beautiful Christmas story will be read....the cheapest and richest gift blessing us at the same time.