Christmas illusration - Grinch!

In 1957 Dr. Seuss released his latest children’s book entitled How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Not since Charles Dickens’ Scrooge had there been a Christmas character as dark and mean spirited as the Grinch, who swept into Whoville in the dark of the night and stole all the Christmas presents. To his amazement on Christmas morn he heard the sounds of Christmas below in the village.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

The ol’ Grinch that fateful day discovered the mysterious secret of Christmas. You cannot buy it in a store, or receive it wrapped in bright paper with a big bow. No Christmas happens in the heart.

The first Christmas gift was not gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The first Christmas gift was wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. It was God himself taking on flesh and blood and giving Himself to us. The secret of giving the best Christmas present of all is not where you shop or what you buy. The secret is giving yourself to those you love just like Jesus!