Christmas is all about gifts. The gift of God’s only Son born into our struggling world. The gifts we give to friends and family to show our love and appreciation.

Admittedly, the birth of Jesus—the ultimate Christmas gift—gives us a mountain of spiritual food to chew on during these holy days of celebration. Our first impulse is to get into the spirit of the season and figure out ways to “gift” others as God has gifted us. And so the shopping for Christmas gifts begins!

This year, however, something quite different has come into my consciousness as Christmas approaches: the importance of receiving. I think that old saying—about how it’s more blessed to give than to receive—sometimes blinds us to the important task of learning how to gratefully receive what is given to us.

Most of us are already pretty good at giving—especially during the holidays. Just read about Project Merry Christmas in this issue. It’s possible only because so many folks give—of their money, their time.

And the spirit of giving doesn’t just stop at Christmas. Glenmary donors give year-round to make our mission work possible. Plus, there are special groups—like the carload of men who traveled from Cincinnati to Mississippi this fall to help Brother Joe Steen with his Habitat housing blitz—who are always coming up with ways to reach out to give to those in need.We can all think of so many examples of the spirit of giving in action. But I think we all can also call to mind many examples of people who don’t know how to receive a gift that is being given. Someone who says: “Oh, you shouldn’t have. I just can’t accept this.” Or someone who rushes right out to find something of similar value to give in return.

It is hard for many of us to simply say “thank you” when a gift is offered. I think part of the wonder of Christmas is learning to receive gifts, not just give them. God didn’t give us Jesus so we could immediately give something back of equal or greater value. God only wants us to receive the gift of Jesus with a grateful heart.One day Jesus will come again and personally offer us the gift of eternal life. When that day comes, it will be important that we simply say, “Thank you, Lord!” We will never be able to repay him for the gift he wants to give us. And protesting that we are unworthy will be beside the point.

To be ready for that day, we need to begin practicing the art of receiving right now. So let’s get our grateful hearts in gear to receive whatever gifts are about to come our way this Christmas.

And let us seize the opportunity of this Christmas season to deepen our appreciation of all that our God has already given us—in Jesus, in each other. I hope to be uttering a lot of simple thank-yous in coming days—both to God and to the folks around me. May you do the same!

Merry Christmas!