As I was recently gazing at my display of little sleds that I put up for Christmas each year, I was reminded of something that happened many years ago. In one of the sleds is a tiny paper box I made and decorated with holly leaves and berries, and it brought back a funny memory.

I was thrilled to learn how to make these little gift boxes out of heavy paper to decorate with ink stamps, and I made a number of them. As any child who makes a beautiful creation can’t wait to give it to their parents, so I wrapped up a few of these miniature boxes to send to my parents for Christmas that year.

Imagine my parents’ surprise as they unwrapped the little gift boxes and opened them, expecting to see some little treasures inside. They were puzzled to find them empty, and finally called me to gingerly ask if I’d forgotten to put the gifts in them. Now imagine my surprise at realizing that I’d never thought about that.

I explained to them that I’d just learned how to make the boxes and that the box is the gift. And because they loved me and were used to my sometimes quirky creative ways, they proudly displayed the empty but beautiful little gift boxes along with all the other artwork and creations I’d given them through the years.

As I sat musing over this memory, a line kept going through my head – “The box is the gift.” One thought I had was that sometimes the creator of something may be the only one who sees the true beauty, value, and worth of their creation. Others may look at it and wonder what it is, what is it used for or what good is it to them.

Many times, our wonderful Creator, God, is the only one who sees the true value and beauty and worth of one of His creations. Some may look at certain people and wonder what they’re good for or how they could use them; what is their value?

But eventually the Lord showed me what He wanted me to see and convey from that line – “The box is the gift.” When we surrender our lives to the Lord, many are mainly interested in the gifts we receive from the giver of all gifts when we turn to Jesus as our Savior.

We are grateful for salvation and forgiveness of sin. We receive His measureless love, peace, joy, hope, and all the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are thankful for protection, provision, healing, guidance, comfort, and God’s promises in His word.

These are all wonderful gifts we receive from the Lord, and we should be most grateful for them. But beyond all that, God wants us to see that Jesus is the gift, not just what is in His hand. Yes, He is the bestower of so many other gifts to us, but we must not overlook the fact that He is the greatest gift we could ever receive, our greatest treasure.

Jesus is the gift from our Father in heaven, so let’s begin to desire and treat Him as such. Let’s learn to love Him as He loves us. As we pursue an intimate relationship with Jesus, we will receive so much more than we could ever imagine.

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