Let Your Deeds Speak Your Thanks

Posted: 22 Dec 2008 01:00 AM CST
1 Sm 1:24-28 / Lk 1:46-56

Few of us ever recognize the full extent of God’s remarkable and unique gifts to us. The main reason for that is that for as long as we can remember we’ve always had our gifts, beginning with the gift of life. We can’t remember a time when we weren’t alive. And to imagine the world without us seems very strange indeed.

But remember it or not, we did have a beginning, a moment when our good Creator “piled our plate high” with a splendid array of gifts, none of which we earned or merited. If we are ever to get our relationship with God right, we’ve got to get clear about this: When we didn’t even exist, God gave us life and everything else, not because we earned it, but because God is God, that is, generous beyond all understanding.

Mary understood this, she was grateful deep in her soul, and she knew what to do about it. She not only prayed her thanks in the Magnificat prayer we hear in today’s Gospel, she lived her thanks all her life long by sharing and giving away the gifts that God had entrusted to her, most especially her special gift for loving and being faithful.

As you prepare to celebrate the greatest Gift that God ever gave us, His own son Jesus, take the time to name all your gifts and give thanks for them. And prepare your heart to live a life of gratitude, a life of sharing God’s gifts with those for whom they were entrusted to you. Do that and the joy of Christmas will be yours all year round.