Every year Kimmel encourages parents to tell their kids that they have eaten their Halloween candy, and film it. He takes it another step further for Christmas by asking parents to give their kids an early Christmas a present, but one they know their kids will not like. You can watch the compilation here (Warning: kid uses salty language at the end)
The reactions from the kids range from confused to throwing fits to absolutely losing their minds! Kids have certain expectations about Christmas, they expect only things they want. Life, like Christmas, offers us gifts we weren’t looking for and we are often disappointed with.
There are so many “gifts” life gives us that we didn’t ask for, that we want a refund on, that we simply want to throw away, but, maybe we should re-think this.
Nobody asked for the “gift” of sickness
Nobody asked for the “gift” of divorce
Nobody asked for the “gift” of failure
Nobody asked for the “gift” of pandemic
These are “gifts” that circumstances gave us.
Think of a “gift” the world gave you that you didn’t ask for. What is that gift responsible for? Did sickness make you more thankful to be alive? To treasure each day? To be grateful of modern medicine?
How about divorce? Did it make you work harder on your relationships so this wouldn’t happen to you?
How about failure? Did it teach you more about life than the successes?
I was adopted. Although I struggled as a young man with my identity, drugs and alcohol, as I get older, I’m thankful that my parents gave me up for adoption rather than choosing abortion. I’m glad my life took this path, with all it’s struggles. It looked like tragedy, but it was really a gift.
Our perspective on what a gift is, changes how we receive it. I’m not asking you to be happy about your tragedy or to pretend it did not happen. I am asking you to see the benefits of the challenges you have faced, are facing or will face.
“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.”
― John Lubbock
Nobody asked for Christmas. God took it upon himself to invade the world, uninvited. Christ offers mankind gifts we did not ask for such as grace, peace, joy, forgiveness and renewal that people refuse on a daily basis. These are gifts we did not ask for but desperately need.
Jesus…
King Herod wanted to kill him.
His family rejected him.
The disciples abandoned him.
The Jewish people: This is not the “gift” they had been expecting. They wanted a King, a deliverer from their oppressors.
Yet, Jesus offered the widow back her dead son alive, the woman at the well redemption, and salvation to all mankind though his death. All unexpected gifts to those who received them.
Many times we act like the spoiled children in the video when we do not get what we want, throwing a fit or complaining about our “gift”. This may not be the Christmas you wanted, but it’s the one you got. What will you do with it?