Janice Crow

Reflections Dec ‘09

I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon around this time of year. We are sucked in big time by packaging. Look around at your local shopping mall. You’ll see the strangest, sometimes most ordinary things packaged as a gift set ….and people are buying it. Right now at my hometown discount department store there’s a gift set containing four plastic bowls, four spoons, and a variety box of instant oatmeal selling for about $15.00. A set of two parfait glasses and jars of chocolate/caramel ice cream topping will bring about $12.50. Down another aisle there’s a gift set containing a hairbrush, a comb, and a few colorful ponytail bands for about $8.50.

Travel on and you’ll discover that even Fido has a gift set…doggie bowl, ID tag, rawhide chew toy and a Frito size bag of dog food all for about $10.00. Trudge on further and you’ll come upon a gift set of foot care products containing specialty insoles, foot creams, and a “scraper” of some sort that looks a bit like a vegetable peeler. I didn’t even bother to look at the price. Gross!

What is it about clever, attractive packaging that draws people to the most ordinary things? Maybe it’s the perception that they’re getting more for their money. Maybe it’s the illusion that “everyone” could use it. Or maybe it’s the laziness factor. They don’t have to really think. Take a few nonsensical items, organize them neatly, tie a red ribbon around them and voila! It’s a gift.

Now let me say right off the bat, yes, I’ve received some of these types of gifts through the years and I’m grateful that someone cared enough to buy me something. But here’s the thing that bothers me. They didn’t care enough to get to know me. They didn’t care enough to ask, “What do I know about her? What do I hear her talk about? What do I see her do? What do I see her wear? What are her interests? What’s the driving force in her life?”

Years ago I was the new kid on the block at a law firm. It was my first Christmas at the firm and I learned quickly that the gift exchange was really a big deal with them. They would decorate the lobby and close the office for the party and everyone was looking forward to it. Everyone, that is, but me. I had drawn the name of one of the bigshot attorneys and shopping was a huge dread! We had a $25.00 limit. What on earth could I buy for someone I didn’t really know and who could afford to buy anything he really wanted?

I began to think about the conversations I had had with him and conversations I had overheard with other people. I remembered him saying how much he liked to spend Saturday in his garage, wearing a ragged sweatshirt and refinishing some piece of old furniture that he’d picked up somewhere along the side of the road. It was all I had to go on, so I bought him a book called “Just Junk”, a pictorial instruction manual about stripping years of paint and varnish off of pitiful chairs, tables, dressers, etc., and turning them into beautiful pieces of heirloom furniture. I remember the knot in my stomach as he opened my gift, and I’ll never forget how relieved I was when he expressed his delight.

At some point after Christmas he related to me that I had known him for less than six months and had found something he truly liked. His in-laws had “known” him more than 15 years and they had hurriedly stopped by Ace and bought him a hammer because “you can always use one and we really don’t know you that well”. How sad!

The next year at Christmas one of the other attorneys drew my name, and it was evident that he had no idea who I was. If he did, he would not have bought me a bottle of white zinfandel. It was a beautiful bottle, attractively packaged, but it was worthless to me and found its way down the drain.

Satan has a way of presenting the most beautiful packages. He convinces people to accept his “gifts” that are so attractively wrapped. It may be fame, wealth or position; but after a while the “gift” that seemed so beautiful proves to be nothing more than an empty promise and a heartache.

God, on the other hand, sent a present to this world that came in humble wrapping. Those strips of rags that made up the swaddling clothes concealed a REAL gift, a pearl of great price….the King of all Kings. Jesus knows me like no one else…..better than I know myself. He knows what I need, what I want, and the dreams tucked so deep in my heart that I have shared them with no one. His blessings are not “one size fits all”. They are uniquely crafted to fit each of us and to minister to our own personal needs and desires.

Oh, well, I may get houndstooth stockings and elf shoes again this year, but it really doesn’t matter because I know the Lord has a special gift planned just for me. And, you know, I’ll bet He has one just for you, too.

Have a wonderful Christmas and blessed New Year!

Janice