Dropping the Conditions

One of the earliest childhood recitations many of us were taught in our early years was for annual Christmas pageants (and yes, it was like herding cats but we dressed in our regal bed sheet or grandpa’s old robe and in our loudest voices we’d begin – ‘What can I give Him, poor as I am. If I were a shepherd I’d give Him a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. What can I give Him, I’ll give Him my heart.’ As we grew up, the simplicity of just giving Him our heart started coming with conditions – when or if or maybe later or I will but I need to hang onto this or that or do it another day. What if today, this Christmas, drop the conditions and give Him all of us–that is really what He wants from us. Even with all our failures, scars, wounds, or maybe we just have convinced ourselves that we don’t have anything to offer Him anymore – that’s where His amazing grace steps in – unmerited, unconditional – that’s all He really wants is just us. So this holiday season – ‘What can we give Him, we’ll give Him our heart(s).’