As I was looking at all my Nativities today I was getting sad about having to put them away. Then I spent the day thinking about gifts, as a family we give some gifts on Epiphany. I think we are shifting slowly so that by the time Nathan is ready for college, the majority of our gift giving will be done on January 5th-6th. I love how in my Nativities the gifts of the wisemen are so different. The olive wood guys are giving the traditional gifts mentioned in the Bible and those gifts were what they thought would be valuable. The guys underneath are giving corn, turquoise, and pottery the things they think are valuable. I went around today and really looked at the gifts in each of the 10 plus sets we have up and while the majority had some version of the tradition, I was most touched by the cultural ones were the gifts were from the culture.
It reminded me of what we say at church every Sunday. "Accept these gifts for thy use and us to thy service, for of thine own have we given thee." God gives every gift, so all gifts are worth to give back.
2 comments:
Beautiful post! I think it is neat that you have so many nativities, too. I have only two - a traditional one and then a small crystal one. It never occurred to me to look at the gifts - but you can be I will be looking at every nativity next year! =)
Very cool--thanks for sharing your nativities and your thoughts.
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