How many times have your heard it said or how many times have you said yourself, "Count your blessings, not your presents." ? I've heard it said many times and I've said it myself many times as well. This year I learned the true meaning of that saying.
For weeks leading up to Christmas my heart was heavy because I knew I did not have the funds to buy my children presents. Since I've been unemployed for 6 months, buying gifts was a luxury I did not have. While my children are no longer little, as any mother knows, we still take joy in watching our children unwrap the gifts we've given them and nothing changes when they become older. Every time someone would talk about Christmas or gift buying, I would fight back the tears. I honestly did not know how I would make it through Christmas day but I was determined to do my best. As soon as I got up Christmas morning I got busy starting the Christmas meal. Each time I would look up and see the empty Christmas tree, the hot tears would sting my eyes and a lump would attach it's self to the back of my throat, but I had made up my mind that was not going to happen on Christmas day.
Even though we very much missed Ashley this year, the boys were troopers and acted as if nothing was different about not having presents. They joked around and enjoyed the day as if it was a "regular" Christmas day. They even approached the yearly Christmas scavenger hunt with the usual gusto, except this year when they could not find the last few hidden pieces, they found my clue sheet with the hiding places while I was cooking and used it to find the pieces that could not be found. I tried my best to get the answer sheet away from them but they are both taller than me and they kept throwing it to each other well above my head! I tickled them in hopes that they would drop it or lower it to where I could reach, but to no avail. But even with the clue sheet they still could not find the last few pieces.
After they found the last few pieces of the scavenger hunt, we finished preparing everything for dinner, sat down and ate until we were stuffed, washed the dishes and went downtown to keep the tradition of seeing the Christmas lights that were set to music.
Before I knew it, it was 10:30 p.m. and the day was over. Just before wrapping everything up for the night I was checked Facebook and saw a picture of a Christmas tree that had two different sides. One side was full, green and decorated with wrapped presents underneath while the other side of the Christmas tree was burnt, black, no leaves and under it was a box with a man sleeping inside. The caption underneath said, "Count your blessings, not your presents." The hot tears once again forced themselves to my eyes but it was not due to the lack of presents for my children, these tears were due to the shame I felt for being so upset at the fact of not having the money for Christmas presents when my children and I have presents that cannot be paid for. We have salvation, each one of us have professed Christ as our Savior. We have a home to live in, we do not have to fear going to sleep because we have to sleep in a box or under an over-pass, we have each other while many families were without loved ones on Christmas day. We have clothes while many people fought to stay warm due to lack of clothing and warm blankets. We had food to fill our bellies while many people around the world went hungry on Christmas day. We had legs to walk, arms to hug each other tight and health while many others were not even able to get out of bed on Christmas day.
I learned a lesson yesterday which I will not soon forget. I learned the true meaning of the saying, "Count your blessings, not your presents." and I would not change or trade yesterday for anything!
Let's determine to truly count our blessings and not our presents. And let's teach our children that the tangible things of life are not important. That unfortunately is something many of us forget.
Merry Christmas season!!!
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