Dave had a table set up by the campfire. On the table were many craft supplies, such as scissors, glue, sequins, glitter, ribbons, construction paper, and many other things. The kids wanted to know why Dave had all these things at the campfire. Dave told the kids that tonight they were all going to make a Christmas decoration or ornament.
There were a few rules for this activity.
- They had to look in the woods to find materials for their ornaments.
- The ornament must be something that they think is beautiful.
- The ornament must be something that they really like.
- They must give the ornament to someone in their family as a gift.
The kids liked the idea of making an ornament, and they could hardly wait to be started! There was one problem; after making a beautiful ornament they would want to keep it for themselves, they did not want to give it away. Dave would not budge on that rule! They had to give the ornament to someone in their family!
Dave gave the kids flashlights, and they headed out into the woods to see what they could find. Later they all returned to the campfire and with a variety of things. They had pinecones, acorns, hickory nuts, bark, pieces of wood, stones, pine needles, branches, and even some dried moss, and dried leaves.
The kids got busy using the craft supplies that Dave had provided for them, and soon their ornaments were done. They truly were beautiful, each in their own way! The final part of the project was to gift wrap the ornaments and put a tag on the package saying who they were giving the gift to. The kids got a lot quieter, and grumbled a bit, but they did what Dave told them to do.
When they were finished, Dave asked them all to sit around the fire so he could teach them about Christmas presents. Dave told them that giving presents is one of the great traditions of Christmas. The idea is not to give presents to ourselves, but to give presents to those we love to show that they are special to us! In fact, God started this tradition! God loves us with the greatest love in the universe, but our sins separate us from God. God fixed this problem by giving us the greatest gift!
In the Bible in John 3:16-17 Jesus said:
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”
God’s gift that first Christmas was the greatest gift of all time! God gave us His Son, Jesus! Jesus came to the earth as a newborn baby. We celebrate His birth at Christmas time. Jesus was completely God, but also completely human, and He never sinned! Jesus lived a perfect life and then He allowed Himself to be killed on the cross to pay for the sins of the entire world! Anyone who believes in Jesus and prays to ask that their sins be forgiven and asks Jesus to come into their life to take control will be forgiven completely and will get to spend forever in heaven with God after their life on this earth is over! This is truly the greatest gift of all time, and it is available to anyone!
If you have never accepted this great gift from God, do it today! It is the most important decision that you will ever make!