Wrapping and Opening....

Today I find myself musing about the wrapping and unwrapping of gifts. I suspect you are thinking, who has time for that right now? (I’m lying low at the moment, wrapped in a blanket, recovering from a cold).

Wrapping has always been a significant part of our Christmas holiday. But in the year 2009, this activity is all but absent for me. Our children, in their mid-to-late twenties, have decided that they would rather do something special as a family rather than “get more stuff” (what music to parental ears!…) Our own siblings and parents are preferring to go the route of charity donations. Friends are opting for lunches out together over gifting each other. Even gifts that we have purchased or made for others in need are to be left exposed, so as to reach the appropriate recipients.

So I am wrapping and unwrapping only in my mind…


And what is wrapping all about anyway? Here are some thoughts.

Wrapping is about celebrating a gift, something special, by covering it so as to be beautiful and enticing. We not only wrap our presents, but also our homes and our very selves in color and brightness as we enjoy the beauty of life.

Wrapping is about keeping something hidden until the fullness of the time comes for its opening. Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, there is a perfect moment to come forth.

Wrapping is about protection. In these very snowy days ahead, hopefully, our homes and our vehicles are well-insulated. And it is important that we protect ourselves with warm coats, gloves, and boots. Our bodies are vulnerable to the elements. Even the infant Jesus needed to be wrapped in swaddling cloths.


And the significance of the opening….

Unwrapping is about connection---the giver and the receiver are joined in a joyfully shared moment.

Unwrapping is about releasing the gift into the world, openly revealed in its beauty and purpose.

Unwrapping is about the natural process of gestation, birth, and maturation---the great turning wheel of life with its beauty of change---that often resisted gift from the passage of time.


Here is my virtual gift to you…

A prayer that you will find yourself wrapped in love and protection throughout the Christmas season and that you may open up in joy and strength for the New Year ahead! Blessings for you in 2010! Gail