Wrapping Presents

I spent the morning wrapping Christmas presents.
My husband set up the large folding table in our bedroom.
Wrapping in our bedroom is a bit easier since all of the presents are nearby.
I had my own wrapping station ready to go.

However, there was so many things that needed to be done beforehand.
First, the presents have to be taken out of the closet and put into piles.
Then, I have to count how many boxes I need to get from the attic.
I had to go downstairs in the kitchen and get the scissors, tape, and permanent marker.

Then it was off to another bedroom to get the wrapping paper.
Five children all need different paper.
That was always the easiest way to keep all of their presents in the correct pile.
Each child has a special place in the living room where all of there presents are placed.

Even though, my children are grown, I still have five different kinds of wrapping paper.
My daughter and son-in-love get the same paper as their spouse.
After all of that was set up in my bedroom, I needed to go up into the attic to get the boxes.
I selected the boxes I needed and tossed them down the attic stairs.

I carried all of the boxes to the bedroom and was ready to begin.
I realized that I did not have a trash bag for all of the price tags and wrapping paper edges.
I ran back downstairs to get a trash bag from the kitchen.
I had Christmas music playing loudly throughout the house, spurring me on for the job ahead.

After 40 minutes of preparation, I was ready to begin.
One person at a time was wrapped and their presents were placed in the closet.
With one glance, I can see which pile is for which person because of the wrapping paper.
I imagine their faces as they open their gifts.

I wrapped my husband’s presents as well.
I had a few other things to wrap and tag which would be placed near the Christmas tree.
The gift wrapping was over three hours worth of work.
It was well worth it.

I had to take a break in the middle.
Since I’m tall, it is difficult to stoop over the folding table for that long of a time.
It was a day when quite a bit got accomplished.
Every time I wrap Christmas presents I think of the gift God gave to us in His son, Jesus.

Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever was wrapped as well.
God the Father wrapped the present of His Son in human skin.
The Incarnation was the ultimate Gift.
God the Son, wrapped in flesh, born in a manger to save the people from their sins.

And that is why we give gifts.
And that is why we wrap them.
And that is why we celebrate.
And that is where we keep our focus.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it…The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. (John 1:1-5, 14)

There are only a few jobs that I dislike.
Ironing is one of them, though I still have to iron.
Wrapping presents is another.
I love thinking about what to give each person and actually purchasing the gifts.

However, wrapping them is something I wish I could delegate to someone else.
Perhaps it is because I find it tedious.
I do not cut wrapping paper very straight.
I can blame that on being left handed and not very good with scissors.

It hit me today that God the Father had to wrap the gift of His Son.
God the Father chose the wrapping.
God the Father determined that His Present should look just like us.
God the Father’s present was nothing grand; His present was nothing fancy.

The present was God Himself wrapped in flesh.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar, with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed Him not. (Isaiah 53:2,3)

Jesus is God with skin on.
Think about it.
How incredible is that?
No other Gift could ever compare.

No other wrapping could come close to God the Father’s wrapping.
No wrapping paper could be as beautiful as the wrapped Present who is Jesus.
God the Father’s Present has a gift tag.
Do you see it?

For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

That is why we give gifts.
That is why we wrap them.
This is what we are remembering.
This is where we keep our focus.

Wrapping presents has a new meaning.
God with skin on.
The ultimate Present.
The ultimate wrapping.

Come, let us adore Him.