Wrapping Paper and Wrapping It Up
“I cannot get inspired to buy that much wrapping paper and then store it all year.” As we exited the store my wife’s comment turned my head in the direction she was looking. A lady was carrying two very large bags out of the Mall filled to capacity with rolls of bright Christmas paper. It would not be used for gifts during the year – this definitely was Christmas stuff to be used about 360 days from now.
Our society is odd. Why would anyone be that needful for that much wrapping paper?
The answer is simple, wrapping paper is vital in our society. ‘We’ must wrap our gifts before ‘we’ give them. In our family’s case after buying the gift (which usually takes some considerable time getting just the right thing..) ‘we’ shop for just the right paper. Then after coming home ‘we’ take great care in cutting the paper and placing the gift in just the right amount paper to cover it adequately. The gift must be covered and the covering is carefully cut and folded and tucked and then drawn tightly around the gift. It also should be straight and even. The reason – I am not sure of – except that maybe there is a possible gift wrapping expert/police person that will be in attendance when the gift is unwrapped.
I am convinced that the ‘Decorative Bow People’ missed out on the idea department and that the ‘Gift Wrapping People’ were first in the line to convince society that you must wrap. Not every gift must have a decorative bow. But if you have one – use it – but it must be the right colour, size and shape. This however is not as important as the wrapping paper choice.
Who set these rules anyway? How did we become obsessed with these rules? The poor lady that walked from the Mall the other day must have been an expert in the wrapping department – or she had about 200 grandkids, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters and extended relatives. I wondered to myself as she walked by us… ‘Where will she get the money and time to buy the gifts that will need to be wrapped?’
Again – Our society is odd.
Today I will be at another wedding. We know the bride deeply loves the groom… and the groom is head over heals in love with the bride. We are attending to show them our support. It is a simple fact. And like many other weddings that I have attended there is a desire to keep it simple and yet beautiful. Behind the scenes there is far more happening than what people know.
First everyone must be dressed up in their best outfit. Men must wear a suit and tie. Women must have on a pretty(interpreted dazzling) outfit – it also should be new. Children that attend will need to wear ‘good clothes’… preferably ‘new’ clothes and that these new clothes should stay clean as long as possible. At a wedding we want societal acceptable people attending – not some street urchins or the homeless.
In our case, the bride is the other grandma of our grandchildren, got that? What does that have to do with anything? Well it is simple the grandsons – all four of them must be dressed up. They will have new pants on with new shirts and ties – and all match. I admit that they are all handsome young men and dressed up they will be amazing. They will be the hit of the wedding I am sure. Add to that their cousins, my other two grandkids, will be there also – also with new outfits on and looking just simply great!
Do you know how many hours it has taken to get the right outfits for these six grandkids? Do you know how many hours it has taken to hem up the pants and pick the right colours to get it just right. Lots!
This wedding will be attended by some of the best ‘wrapped people’ in the Toronto area. And each of the best wrapped people are bringing well wrapped gifts that have taken hours to pick and prepare and wrap.
Now remember this is a wedding where the bride will be the most beautiful and the best wrapped of everyone in attendance. I have heard it rumored already that her dress is something else! I hope the poor groom is okay with his rented tuxedo. (Oddly enough it was likely rented by someone else just last weekend..).
This wedding will have about 150 guests in attendance. If each guest has taken about 5 hours to buy a gift, buy the right paper, buy a new outfit, get the suit cleaned, then carefully bath, get to the hair dresser, then with the greatest of care – dress… you are looking at 750 hours to wrap it all up. I think that 5 hours is a conservative estimate. 750 hours is almost 20 weeks of work @ 40 hours per week.
Back to Wrapping Paper and Wrapping…
We are obsessed with making it look good no matter what is on the inside. In fact with the right wrapping paper you can disguise the contents entirely. The gift may well have been bought at a ‘Dollar Store’ – but it looks great.
The same is true for funerals. We truly are an odd society. We dress up in our best to go see a person that can’t see us. People that have never had a suit on find one in the back of a closet and then tuck what they have into something that doesn’t fit. In the western society it should be dark in colour – in the eastern world it needs to be white. The oddest thing is that we dress the dude in the casket in his ‘Sunday Best’. Has anyone asked why he needs a suit on? After all how long is he going to wear it and who cares after the lid is closed?
A Startling Thought…
What is on the inside is more important than what is on the outside. When the wrapping comes off will the content be as good as it looks right now.
When the bride and groom wake up tomorrow morning – will either be shocked with the reality?
I know that the grandkids being dressed up in their sharp new outfits will be wrapped in sweaty hockey equipment hours after the wedding is over. Now – for me – the coolest thing would have the real grandkids come to the wedding dressed in clean Hockey outfits (without their skates on of course).
The older I get the more I realize that what is on the inside is what counts. The more I see what a good heart is all about – the more I understand how important it is.
God is interested in what is going on inside – not the outside. When he designed us and then delivered us – we were naked. And as shocking as it is but so obvious – we are naked below the wrappings that we work so hard at preparing.
A really funny story for me is the one of the Garden of Eden at the point that Adam and Eve had finished eating the forbidden fruit. They have realized that they are naked and they make some clothes to ‘wrap up’ their nakedness and hide in the trees. God came looking for them the account in Genesis 3 tells us and asks a profound question… “Where are you?” Wrapped up and hiding they were not the people that he had created. Even God couldn’t recognize them.
Who are you? Where are you? How are you? God loves you ‘unwrapped’ – the real you that is.
Scriptures to consider..
Proverbs 15:13 NIV
13 A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 15:15 NIV
15 All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Proverbs 17:22 NIV
22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
~ Pastor Murray ~
Here is a pre-wedding Christmas shot of four handsome grandsons… Left to right – Christopher, Michael, Thomas and Jonathan
Rourke
Our society is odd. Why would anyone be that needful for that much wrapping paper?
The answer is simple, wrapping paper is vital in our society. ‘We’ must wrap our gifts before ‘we’ give them. In our family’s case after buying the gift (which usually takes some considerable time getting just the right thing..) ‘we’ shop for just the right paper. Then after coming home ‘we’ take great care in cutting the paper and placing the gift in just the right amount paper to cover it adequately. The gift must be covered and the covering is carefully cut and folded and tucked and then drawn tightly around the gift. It also should be straight and even. The reason – I am not sure of – except that maybe there is a possible gift wrapping expert/police person that will be in attendance when the gift is unwrapped.
I am convinced that the ‘Decorative Bow People’ missed out on the idea department and that the ‘Gift Wrapping People’ were first in the line to convince society that you must wrap. Not every gift must have a decorative bow. But if you have one – use it – but it must be the right colour, size and shape. This however is not as important as the wrapping paper choice.
Who set these rules anyway? How did we become obsessed with these rules? The poor lady that walked from the Mall the other day must have been an expert in the wrapping department – or she had about 200 grandkids, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters and extended relatives. I wondered to myself as she walked by us… ‘Where will she get the money and time to buy the gifts that will need to be wrapped?’
Again – Our society is odd.
Today I will be at another wedding. We know the bride deeply loves the groom… and the groom is head over heals in love with the bride. We are attending to show them our support. It is a simple fact. And like many other weddings that I have attended there is a desire to keep it simple and yet beautiful. Behind the scenes there is far more happening than what people know.
First everyone must be dressed up in their best outfit. Men must wear a suit and tie. Women must have on a pretty(interpreted dazzling) outfit – it also should be new. Children that attend will need to wear ‘good clothes’… preferably ‘new’ clothes and that these new clothes should stay clean as long as possible. At a wedding we want societal acceptable people attending – not some street urchins or the homeless.
In our case, the bride is the other grandma of our grandchildren, got that? What does that have to do with anything? Well it is simple the grandsons – all four of them must be dressed up. They will have new pants on with new shirts and ties – and all match. I admit that they are all handsome young men and dressed up they will be amazing. They will be the hit of the wedding I am sure. Add to that their cousins, my other two grandkids, will be there also – also with new outfits on and looking just simply great!
Do you know how many hours it has taken to get the right outfits for these six grandkids? Do you know how many hours it has taken to hem up the pants and pick the right colours to get it just right. Lots!
This wedding will be attended by some of the best ‘wrapped people’ in the Toronto area. And each of the best wrapped people are bringing well wrapped gifts that have taken hours to pick and prepare and wrap.
Now remember this is a wedding where the bride will be the most beautiful and the best wrapped of everyone in attendance. I have heard it rumored already that her dress is something else! I hope the poor groom is okay with his rented tuxedo. (Oddly enough it was likely rented by someone else just last weekend..).
This wedding will have about 150 guests in attendance. If each guest has taken about 5 hours to buy a gift, buy the right paper, buy a new outfit, get the suit cleaned, then carefully bath, get to the hair dresser, then with the greatest of care – dress… you are looking at 750 hours to wrap it all up. I think that 5 hours is a conservative estimate. 750 hours is almost 20 weeks of work @ 40 hours per week.
Back to Wrapping Paper and Wrapping…
We are obsessed with making it look good no matter what is on the inside. In fact with the right wrapping paper you can disguise the contents entirely. The gift may well have been bought at a ‘Dollar Store’ – but it looks great.
The same is true for funerals. We truly are an odd society. We dress up in our best to go see a person that can’t see us. People that have never had a suit on find one in the back of a closet and then tuck what they have into something that doesn’t fit. In the western society it should be dark in colour – in the eastern world it needs to be white. The oddest thing is that we dress the dude in the casket in his ‘Sunday Best’. Has anyone asked why he needs a suit on? After all how long is he going to wear it and who cares after the lid is closed?
A Startling Thought…
What is on the inside is more important than what is on the outside. When the wrapping comes off will the content be as good as it looks right now.
When the bride and groom wake up tomorrow morning – will either be shocked with the reality?
I know that the grandkids being dressed up in their sharp new outfits will be wrapped in sweaty hockey equipment hours after the wedding is over. Now – for me – the coolest thing would have the real grandkids come to the wedding dressed in clean Hockey outfits (without their skates on of course).
The older I get the more I realize that what is on the inside is what counts. The more I see what a good heart is all about – the more I understand how important it is.
God is interested in what is going on inside – not the outside. When he designed us and then delivered us – we were naked. And as shocking as it is but so obvious – we are naked below the wrappings that we work so hard at preparing.
A really funny story for me is the one of the Garden of Eden at the point that Adam and Eve had finished eating the forbidden fruit. They have realized that they are naked and they make some clothes to ‘wrap up’ their nakedness and hide in the trees. God came looking for them the account in Genesis 3 tells us and asks a profound question… “Where are you?” Wrapped up and hiding they were not the people that he had created. Even God couldn’t recognize them.
Who are you? Where are you? How are you? God loves you ‘unwrapped’ – the real you that is.
Scriptures to consider..
Proverbs 15:13 NIV
13 A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 15:15 NIV
15 All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Proverbs 17:22 NIV
22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
~ Pastor Murray ~
Here is a pre-wedding Christmas shot of four handsome grandsons… Left to right – Christopher, Michael, Thomas and Jonathan
Rourke
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Saturday, December 30, 2006
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