What can you give to impress a baby?<\/p>\n
What can you give to impress the King of the Universe?<\/p>\n
NOTHING!<\/p>\n
This morning I stopped in awe, listening to a song about Mary pondering everything about her baby, Jesus.<\/p>\n
So, what can I give baby Jesus?<\/p>\n
It seems there are only two things Jesus wants—and only two things I can give.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
+++ I give Him what I don’t have.<\/p>\n
I don’t have money—so I give Him my debts.<\/p>\n
I don’t have stuff to impress or boast—so I give Him my shame.<\/p>\n
I don’t have a pretty past—so I give Him my sins.<\/p>\n
I don’t have a good attitude sometimes—so I give Him my brokenness.<\/p>\n
I don’t have a good memory—so I give Him my mind.<\/p>\n
I don’t have a handle on planning—so I give Him my future.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
+++ I give Him what I do have.<\/p>\n
I do have a song to share—so I look for someone who needs Christmas cheer (like I do).<\/p>\n
I do have words of hope—so I look for someone who needs encouragement (like I do).<\/p>\n
I do have answers for the deepest questions—so I look for someone who needs to find meaning in life’s tough times (like I do).<\/p>\n
I do have a heart for families—so I look for someone who needs real help in their relationships (like I do).<\/p>\n
I do have an identity with the down and out—so I look for someone who needs Jesus and not religion (like I do).<\/p>\n
I do have a gift for writing—so I look for someone who needs a word, that will make a difference in their life, in the parts that are for keeps ( l i k e\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0\u00a0 d o ).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What I don’t have:<\/p>\n
“You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it.\u00a0 The sacrifice God wants is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”<\/p>\n
What I do have:<\/p>\n
“Whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done it unto Me.”—–Jesus<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Finally, what can I give—I will give thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What can you give to impress a baby? What can you give to impress the King of the Universe? NOTHING! This morning I stopped in awe, listening to a song about Mary pondering everything about her baby, Jesus. So, what can I give baby Jesus? It seems there are only two things Jesus wants—and only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith_based","category-family","category-financial","category-inspire_lifter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2606"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2612,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2606\/revisions\/2612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}