Until just a few days before Christmas, Jon and I weren't certain what we were going to give the spark plugs for Christmas. As we waffled between ideas and tried to keep down expenses, circumstances transpired to provide Jon with a brand-new, high-end video game console - something completely unexpected but greatly appreciated. I don't know a lot about gaming systems (last I knew, Nintendo was still a buzzword, but apparently that fell out of fashion decades ago), but I did know enough to realize that this was a costly gift and was something that we would not have been able to give the kids on our own.
As expected, the spark plugs - especially the older boys - were ecstatic when they opened their present. As excited as they were, however, it was also obvious that they didn't - in fact, couldn't - fully fathom the magnitude of the gift they'd just received. For children who have a miniscule monthly spending allowance, hundreds of dollars is an amount beyond their current scope of understanding (although T might be getting close to comprehending it as his math skills improve and as he squirrels away his allowance for larger items).
As Jon and the kids worked on plugging in and setting up the new system, it dawned on me how alike this gift was to that which was given on the very First Christmas. Can we, as humans, fully grasp how much it cost the Heavenly Father to send His only Son as a sacrifice to save us? Is it possible for us to understand the depth to which Jesus had to go to offer a ransom? Just as the kids couldn't understand completely the worth of their Christmas gift, neither can we totally comprehend the Gift that God gave in the form of His Son.
Despite their limited understanding, it still brought us great joy to see their glowing faces. They still attempted to adequately thank us (although we didn't have much to do with the gift other than to wrap it), and seeing their appreciation was reward enough for us. So, too, we can thank the Lord for sending His Son, even though we won't fully know the extent that the gift of Salvation is until we are with Him forever in Glory.
Merry Christmas!!
