Extravagant God

It seems like every year, I'm trying to find ways to make Christmas simpler - to focus more on Christ and less on stuff. We've gone to a three gift rule (based off Jesus getting three gifts from the wise men). We've lowered and lowered our budget (some out of desire and some out of necessity).

But every year, the more simple Bill and I aim to be - the more generous others are.

This year we were completely blown away at Christmas. One day, while I was out, someone filled my van with food and presents. Bill and I had already been blessed with a little extra money "mailbox money" (anonymous gift one finds in their mailbox), and felt like we had done okay for our kids. So the extra stuff was completely unnecessary - appreciated, but unnecessary. It was like frosting on the cake.

But it gets better! Christmas Eve Bill and I slept on the couch in the living room to accommodate family and to be right there when the kids woke up in the morning. Earlier in the day, one of the shelves on our entertainment center collapsed. So I fell asleep staring at it and whispering to God those unspoken thoughts that you don't utter to anyone else. "I wonder when Bill and I will be able to get a new cabinet...one with doors that hides everything....and a flat screen t.v. that mounts to the wall, and we don't need this huge bulky cabinet?" It is a request you don't dare utter to anyone else because after all, you can barely pay your bills and are grateful that you have everything you need. You have a t.v. and an entertainment cabinet, and people in Africa are starving and dying of AIDS. It is a dream - a wish, definitely not a need.

The next morning, after finishing Christmas with our kids, we headed to my brother's. On the porch was a huge box. It was labeled with a UPS style label from Santa's Workshop at the North Pole to the Gifford Family in Dalton Gardens. No one knew where it came from.

We opened it last. It was a flat screen t.v. No kidding. I couldn't even speak. Are you kidding? I don't need this. This is extravagant, unnecessary, over the top.

I have looked my family members all in the eye and they have assured me that they don't have that kind of money laying around. No one will own up to it, and we have no idea where it came from. The next day we scored a beautiful cherry, glass topped cabinet at a thrift store with doors and pull out trays for all our CD's, stereo, etc. It is all hidden. We have been busy rearranging our living room and hooking everything up.

In the meantime, God has been speaking. My goal each year is to help my kids focus on the Savior. When there are so many presents, I sometimes feel sabotaged. But this year, God spoke something new to me, and it has been my theme.

I am an extravagant God!

Yes, I meet needs. But I usually go beyond what you really need.

I could have saved you from hell and not offered heaven, but I want you to have extravagance.

I could have just canceled your debt, but instead I paid the dearest price of my son - because I wanted you to know what you were worth to me - how far I would go for you.

I could have just saved you and kept you at a distance, but I want a relationship with you - and I want you to live with me forever.

I could just meet your needs - provide your bare necessities-, but you are dear to me. I want you to know I hear the things you only dare whisper to me, and I listen.

I love you, and I will be extravagant with you.

I don't know what your Christmas was like this year. It may have been slim. You may not have experienced what we did. But no matter what, I pray that you see what God has done for us in the spiritual realm and see how extravagant He is. Because He loves you just as much as He loves me.

As posted on Those With Young, December 29, 2009