A Busted TV and the True Meaning of Christmas

Editor’s note: We recently invited our readers to share their personal Christmas stories. Here is one of the responses we received.

When our children were young, we had a Christmas tradition in our home. On Christmas morning, they would come and get in bed with my wife and me before going to the tree to see what gifts they could find. We respectfully referred to this special time as “family union.”

Following our family union time in 1978, we jumped up and raced into the living room where the tree was located. This particular Christmas, our eldest son was receiving a television for his room. Due to the cost of the television, he was getting practically no other gifts. The television was his Christmas.

The television was sitting on the coffee table across from the tree. He immediately wanted to turn it on. The cord was not long enough to reach the outlet. In my bull-in-a-china-shop manner, I picked up the table and the TV together and attempted to move them closer to an outlet. The freshly polished table was slick, and the television slipped to the floor. It fell face down, and all of the dials were broken. (Remember, this was 1978.) The television was of no use.

You can imagine the impact on a 10-year old boy when his entire Christmas was rendered useless. He ran to his room in tears and crawled to the foot of his bed. I joined him, and we soaked his sheets with our tears. His heart was broken, and so was mine. Finally, I was able to assure him that the television could be fixed. I sought his forgiveness for being so careless. He was far more forgiving of me than I was of myself.

This particular Christmas was on Sunday. After everyone had calmed down, we dressed for church. As we rode to church, I reflected upon the morning. I thought of the fragile nature of the things that we get all excited about. In fact, we sometimes allow the commercial aspect of Christmas and all the things that accompany it to detract us from the only part of Christmas that is forever. I thought of the true gift of Christmas, the gift of God’s Son. I was grateful that the true gift of Christmas could not be broken or taken away once it had been received. While these thoughts did not relieve my hurt for my son’s broken TV, they did give me a better perspective on the situation.

My purpose in sharing this episode in the life of the Lynn family is to encourage us all to guard against being overcome by all the festivities of the season to the point of neglecting the One it is all about. Let’s strive to really keep Christ at the center of our focus this season. If we do, God will be honored, and we will be blessed.

Dennis Lynn is pastor of Bellview Baptist Church in Woodruff.