In March of next year, I will cross the dreaded milestone with my daughter as she will officially become a teenager in 2012. But as I stand on the threshold of new and uncharted waters for me, I hark back to when she was a child and sitting in the back seat of the family car during the Christmas season. She gave to me a lesson that I have never forgotten. Even though it is a humorous story, it has a much deeper meaning.

As we drove along, playing the rado filled with the sounds of the season, the old familiar carol rang out over the airwaves with the words of “Do You Hear What I Hear” which is one of our favorites. But this time, little ears and a perceptive heart picked up on something. The song went on and finally got to the line “a child, a child, shivers in the cold, let us bring him silver and gold,…” I looked in the back seat for just a second and saw the wheels turning. Something had been said that she was seriously pondering. After the song was over, and one of the more tacky Christmas commercials replaced the soothing melodies, I cut the radio off and asked her what was on her mind.

“Daddy” she asked, “if the child is shivering in the cold, why don’t we bring him a blanket” I had to stop and ponder those words for a minute for they were not something that I had thought about before. Yes, I knew the story of the wise men bringing the Christ child their gifts, which included gold and had specific meanings, but it was then that I realized that my little one had hit on something. What good was gold going to bring to a child who needed warmth, would it give him what he needed?

In a basic, practical sense, without realizing it, she had discovered the meaning of the words of the Apostle James where he talks about a brother or sister being destitute and all we give them is a wish for warmth and wellness, or a hope that they might find filling. (James 2:15-16). Just as the shivering child needed something to keep him warm, we have people all around us who need warmth, clothing, and food. At this time of the year, we take the time to give so that these people might have something of what they need. We do well, we say, we pat ourselves on the back and perhaps even think we have done our part to help for another year.

But as soon as the Christmas presents are opened, when the last carol is sung for another year, when the tree is banished from the window, not to reappear until next Christmas, the needs we have met amongst our brethren still remain. Hunger, cold, loneliness, want knows no holiday. The specter of the destitution stalks its prey throughout the year, not just during the time that it has become traditional to give to their needs.

We who are truly blessed have a unique opportunity to lift those around us. We can truly “bring a blanket” to those who suffer with the cold of need. We can reach beyond the mere “God bless you” and meet the real needs of those among us. Jesus told us that we would always have the poor with us. That means that after the time of the year where we might not think about it, the need that we met at Christmas returns to afflict those less fortunate. Let us remember, in whatever situation we find ourselves, no matter what the time of the year, that when we see the poor crying for food, shelter, and warmth, that there but for the grace of God, go any of us, may we respond as we have the means to do so. Thank you Emily for reminding me that while bringing our silver and our gold might be good gifts, we need to see the more immediate need of a blanket to keep people warm.