The Wonder of His Love

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! (I John 3:1a)"

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15)"

I will never forget the 2003 Christmas that my family and I spent with my parents. Times were very hard for them at that time. Regular, long term work was difficult to find. In fact, during the couple of weeks that we spent together my father was laid off from his job at the hardware store an hour away. With a lack of consistent employment, my parents were struggling to start a couple of businesses, hoping that one would "pan out." At the time, none of those businesses had come anywhere close to providing much more income for the family.

Christmas came, and with it the old familiar traditions- the reading of the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke, a time of expressing gratefulness to God for the wonderful Christmas gift of Jesus, prayer, and then the unwrapping of gifts. Toward the end of the giving and recieving of gifts, the time came for my mother to open her gift from my father. It was a large and surprisingly light box, wrapped beautifully. Knowing my father's lack of wrapping skills and the fact that he had personally wrapped the gift himself, I knew that he had taken extra care and attention to the gift this Christmas. As the paper and ribbons were removed and my mother opened the box, she burst out laughing. Roll after roll of toilet paper was packed neatly, apparently filling the entire box! Mom explained that Dad had told her he wouldn't have much money this Christmas and might be only able to afford toilet paper. The house filled with extra family made this gift a timely one! Mom set the box to the side, still laughing, not looking for or expecting anything else from him.

Then Dad said, "You might want to look a little deeper." At first Mom did not understand. As she realized that there was more, she reached for the gift and began removing rolls of toilet paper. One layer of rolls was removed. Another layer was removed. Yet another. The bottom of the box also held rolls of toilet paper, but in the center of that final layer a couple were missing and in their place a small box. Mom reached for the box, and as she lifted it from between the rolls of toilet paper her breath stopped. For probably a full ten seconds she did not take a breath, and the moment she finally did, the tears started. She struggled for words, but only sobs came.

Dad had realized that he was likely to be laid off that winter. He knew times were tough. He also knew that there was a beautiful Eos Rebel SLR camera at the store that Mom would really love. He had literally sacrificed time and health for love of my mother. Dad put in all the overtime he could and saved every penny he could for months just to give Mom a gift that showed her he loved her with a passion undiminished by time and circumstance. It stole her words away. The gift was great, but the love behind that gift undescribable.

My earthly memory resonates with Heavenly parallel. Explanations and proclamations of our Father's love are necessary to our Christian faith and walk. Yet how inadequate our words! How precious are those times when the wonder and the joy of it all leaves us speechless.