One cannot miss the irony that the biggest shopping day of the year begins in the wee hours of the day after Thanksgiving. The second biggest shopping day of the year comes with its own irony- it’s the day after Christmas. It takes a few hours to move from contentedness to acquisitiveness and then, a month later, a few hours to move from the flurry of Christmas wrap to the realization that what you received is not really what will satisfy.
The Brits have an interesting addition to their liturgical calendar that perhaps we would be wise to adopt. In the United Kingdom, and in many other nations that once were part of the British empire, the day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day. This is not a day dedicated to breaking down and disposing of all the boxes our presents came in. Neither is it the one day a year when all of England puts on boxing gloves and pays homage to the Marquis of Queensbury. Rather, it is that day when those less fortunate are remembered.
Those who served the wealthy not only received the day off, but received from their employers gifts, often big boxes of them. Those who worked in service industries in turn were given gifts on this day. When Christians gathered to worship on Christmas Day (whatever day of the week it was) a special offering of alms was taken up and given to the poor on Boxing Day. Boxing Day is the embodiment of the biblical wisdom that it is better to give than to receive (Acts 25:30). In giving, however, we receive that greater blessing.
The blessing of giving is that it not only doesn’t feed our hunger for more, but satisfies our hunger to be satisfied. In giving to those less fortunate we are better able to see the blessings we have already received. Boxing Day is the better day not because giving is more important than the birth of Jesus, but because Jesus was born to give, to lay His life down for us, the spiritually destitute.
Here then is a suggestion or two. When you look back at yesterday, begin by asking yourself not what was the favorite gift you received, but what was your favorite gift that you gave. Have the whole family ask the same question. Cherish the memory of the joy of the receivers. And when those receivers fail the test, when they race to the next gift or fail to appreciate the last one, remember that such is how we treat our heavenly Father. Second, ask your heavenly Father for the best gift. Ask Him to bless you with the gift of gratitude. Not that He would change your circumstances, but that you would give deep and genuine thanks to Him for putting you in the circumstances He has. Finally, give thanks for the present you haven’t yet opened- eternal life in the glorious presence of the living God.
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