Gift of the Cross

Recently I was re-arranging a room in our church that we had a cross leaning upright in a corner.  Nailed onto the cross was a large variety of cards in which people had written down things they wanted to ask forgiveness for, and then pounded the card onto the cross.

I began to carefully pull the cards off and lay them on the ground; not thinking too much about the task at first as my mind wandered to Christmas and how I was going to decorate this room for the season.  My mind continued to focus on thoughts of the gifts I had yet to purchase, and the various plans I needed to complete for the holiday season.

I paused at my task, as my mind wandered. Slowly I blinked and my eyes refocused on what I was doing.  Glancing down, in my hand was a card that said, “Forgive me for being angry at my wife.”  I then looked down before me and saw all of the cards scattered at the foot of this cross.  Each one representing a broken person asking God to forgive them for all kinds of things. I reverently continued to take down these cards one by one, as silent tears slipped down my cheeks; I placed them at the foot of the cross. Overwhelmed with the understanding that this…, this is His gift.  This is Christmas.  He gave Himself, his birth, his life and his death for forgiveness to the broken.  Forgiven and restored so we can be in relationship with Him.

 And as we celebrate Christmas, how can we truly reflect what His gift means to us?

Celebrate! And share joy with others!  The giving of ourselves, our joy to others that are broken.   Sharing this gift Jesus has given to us is the best gift we can give, better than any gift we place at the foot of a tree.  This gift we receive at the foot of the cross.

"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed."  I Peter 2:24

- Sue Parrott