Our family decided that this Christmas we would forego gifts and create memories instead. I was thinking about that decision, and it brought up a memory.
Each Christmas our church would ask the Middleton school for families that needed a little help with Christmas gifts. Our congregation loved buying toys and clothing for the children. We would shop and then spend an evening wrapping all the gifts. It was a time of great joy.
One family touched my heart in ways I cannot even explain. The school advocate vetted each family, took down the children’s genders, ages, and requests. She would ask each mother or father if they needed anything also.
She told me of one mother who insisted she was “fine,” and we should just buy for the children. (If I remember correctly, there were 5 or 6 children.) The advocate kept asking and finally the mom made a request … she asked for enough towels that each family member could have their own. That request broke my heart. I have struggled at times, but I have never been so poor that I had to share a bath towel.
The more I thought about that though, the more I realized I was wrong. I have been so very poor. I stood before a cross acknowledging that I had nothing I could give, nothing I could do to restore a right relationship with my Creator. I was far more destitute than just not having enough towels. But…
“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners….God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” [Romans 5:6-8 NLT]
