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I have a large, close family; a blessing not enjoyed by many Americans. This holiday season my family and I are short on cheer, as we are in mourning: I lost my 20-year-old nephew on August 28th and I lost my father on August 30th. We are still fumbling our way along in learning to exist in this new reality.
Last week I made an impulse buy in hopes of soothing my soul: I bought a pair of house slippers that look like the shoes worn by Santa’s elves, complete with a single jingle bell dangling at the tip of each curled toe. I did have quite the time teasing my boxer, watching him bounce and boing in delight and the sight and sound of my jingling slippers. Yet, my joy faded after a few hours of noisily walking about the house. Money can’t buy happiness.
Now, with each step, I simply sound (and feel) like that lumbering ghost in “A Christmas Carol,” dragging chains, clicking and clanking, behind me. These are the chains of sorrow.
Clink-Clank.
Clink-Clank.
Clink-Clank.
Then, yesterday, the mailman brought me a simple gift of friendship; friendship baked in little pecan pies.
At Christmas time, since my husband and I have been married, he and I have received pecan pies from a family I grew to dearly love. I was amazingly blessed, honored, to have taught all three of their beautiful, kind-hearted, bright and articulate children. Their friendship has been a blessing in my life, one words cannot satisfactorily describe.
To say that I (and my husband) am undeserving of this family’s friendship, and annual pies, is an understatement. As you have likely become familiar in your own lives, the saying life gets in the way is true to form. Still, I have, ashamedly, failed miserably as reciprocating this family’s love. I have failed to respond with a single thank you note. The last time my husband and I went to dinner with “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” they treated us. We have yet to treat them to a nice dinner in return. In fact, I would say that I have failed in maintaining this precious friendship in shameful fashion. My husband and I are completely, 100%, unequivocally undeserving. Yet, the Christmas pies have continued.
This year, considering my failed reciprocity of friendship (or even acknowledgement thereof), I thought to myself, “This season we won’t get a pie. This year, they (the “Smiths”) will sure, logically, have given up on us.” I was wrong! The “Smith” family has demonstrated an enduring love, a genuine charity of the heart, that can only be described as “holy.”
At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Christ, the precious baby boy laid in a manger. John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” Did the world do anything to deserve God’s love? No. The world was completely undeserving of God’s generosity. Yet, it was His tremendous, unearned love for all of us that He gave us more than we could ever, ever deserve: his baby boy.
Whether the “Smith” family is aware of it or not, they have set themselves apart as living models of our Lord’s precious love; a love unearned, undeserved.
While I may continue clinking and clanking through my first Christmas season without two of the most important people in my life, I am filled with joy and deep humility by the kindness of my dear, dear friends, the “Smiths.” They have both comforted my soul, knowing that I am not forgotten nor alone; and provided me with a much-needed reminder that I, myself, must work to be more Christ-like in my own life, in my own friendships. I couldn’t not ask for a more precious gift this Christmas.
In a world with such animosity and forgetfulness, we need many more families like the “Smith” family.
To the “Smith” Family – Thank you!
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