Advent - The Love Candle
At the beginning of my junior year in high school, my dad took me shopping for a senior ring. Money was tight. Dad had his hands full as a single dad raising three kids, two of them teenagers.
On this particular afternoon in September, we walked into the jewelry store and began to look over the variety of styles available for senior rings. Most were the classic chunky rings with a large, clear stone in the center. I was prepared to end up with the most affordable option, glad to even get to have a senior ring.
But suddenly, a petite, feminine ring with a tiny diamond in the center caught my eye. “Oh, Dad!” I exclaimed. “Look at this one!” He did, but of course, he also looked at the price tag. It was far from what he’d budgeted. Without saying a word, I saw the “No way!” in his expression.
“Dad, I know it’s expensive, but it’s so pretty!” He gruffly steered me back to the rings in our price range. I struggled to feign interest in any of them, but I sure tried. There was a knot in my stomach – feeling ashamed that I’d want something so extravagant instead of being grateful for what I would get.
We left the store and rode home in silence. That ring was out of the question for Dad, and I knew it.
The fall semester progressed, and I got swept away with homework, school activities, and time with friends. When December rolled around and Christmas approached, I had completely forgotten about senior rings.
As frugal as Dad was, he always managed to stretch a dollar around the holidays. He worked hard to shower my two brothers and me with lots of gifts, even if they weren’t expensive. This year was no different. It was practically impossible to see underneath the tree because of all the presents stacked around it. As a teenaged girl, all that had been on my wish list that year were clothes, and each box with my name on it contained a cute blouse or a pair of jeans or a cozy sweater.
And then – really, just like in the movies - I noticed tucked far under the tree, in the very back, a beautifully decorated ring box from the jewelry store.
At that point, I was happy to at least get a ring, and I was expecting to find the chunky ring with my high school’s initials and the year of my anticipated graduation engraved on it. I carefully unwrapped the box, being gentle to keep the paper intact.
But to my surprise and delight, I opened the box and found the beautiful, dainty ring my heart had desired but that I’d been too afraid to even hope for!
Almost instantaneously it dawned on me - the extravagance and sacrifice my dad had made in making sure that that pretty little ring found its way to be under our Christmas tree that year. As much as I loved that ring, I realized that I loved my dad so much more! And I also realized just how much he loved me.
Every time I wore that ring, I didn’t think about my high school. I thought of my dad’s love and sacrifice.
As you gather with family and friends to attend a Christmas Eve service, to exchange and open gifts, to enjoy fellowship and good food, remember that all of this is a result of Your Father’s extravagant, sacrificial love for you.
God cloaked Himself in humanity’s flesh and left heaven’s glory to enter our world as a helpless Baby on that first Christmas for you. He would grow up in the home of a humble carpenter.
At the appointed time, He would live out the final years of His life in ministry – elevating the unseen to places of value and worth; hearing the pleas of blind men and restoring vision to both their eyes and hearts; touching leprous skin to heal bodies and bring lonely souls back into fellowship and acceptance; exposing dark secrets and leading the lost to light; chasing demons away and returning right minds to the possessed.
But the work of Jesus wasn’t complete. He knew that true love is sacrificial. In His final act as the Incarnate God, He gave Himself up to die for us, to sacrifice for us, to pave the way to the Father’s kingdom for us.
While it may take us by surprise, this was always a part of God’s plan to rescue and redeem us – lost, hopeless souls unable to save ourselves from the just consequences of our sinful lives. All for love…
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)
Rejoice, and light the candle! We have Love!
