Do you visit ten stores before choosing the perfect Christmas gift? Maybe you spend hours creating a gift by hand. Perhaps the practical nature of the recipient compels you to get a gift like wool socks. Does the perfect gift rest under a decorated tree, accompanied by Christmas Carols and the scent of sugar cookies? Whatever your idea of the perfect Christmas gift, it usually starts with lofty expectations. Marvel at the planning that went into God sending his one and only Son. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell into sin by a tree. In Genesis 3, God delivered his first promise of the Savior who would redeem the world by a tree. God sustained that promise by saving Noah and his family in the ark. The Old Testament patriarch, Abraham, lived by faith in that promise. God taught generations of his people what the promised Messiah would be like and come to do. Leaders like Moses and David served as prototypes of the coming Messiah. Prophets like Isaiah and Micah pointed towards the light of the Savior even when God’s people wandered in darkness. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” -Galatians 4:4-5. The pages of Scripture point to Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 is familiar, so familiar maybe you even have it memorized. Children proclaim this message in their Christmas Service. Jesus, the perfect gift of God, came to Earth to save you and me. Sometimes the best gifts seem too simplistic and easy to overlook, almost like another pair of wool socks or mittens from grandma. This Christmas season, consider all that has happened for that perfect gift to come to you. Christians throughout the ages, grandparents, parents, pastors, teachers, and friends shared Jesus, the Light of the World. This perfect gift from God is why we give gifts year after year. As imperfect as our Christmas celebrations and presents are, we rejoice in the perfect gift of Jesus. He came to Earth to take away the sins of the world. The story of Jesus’s birth is not complete apart from the gift of the cross and empty tomb. “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15)! Ponder anew all that took place for that Gospel message to reach you and how you may share the love of Christ with others in your life. -Principal Peck