Undone by Love

I’m sure you all have a favorite Christmas movie and/or book, It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, Christmas Vacation, Elf, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Did I list your favorite movie?

I have several Christmas books that have wonderful stories but one in particular stands out from the rest, “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde.

I first read this story 51 years ago. I remember the exact place. It was December 1973. We were living in a small trailer on West Van Buren Rd in Phoenix. It was our first Christmas as a married couple. The Arizona Highways Magazine published it in their December issue. Since that year, I have reread it many times and recounted the story to groups large and small.

The story in a nutshell – is a selfish giant walls his beautiful garden so that children can’t come in and play. As a result, the garden remains in a state of winter all year round and the giant becomes grumpier. Then one day in the corner of his garden he notices that the birds are singing, and the trees are green…the children found a break in the wall and came in to play. The giant is so glad to see them that he runs out to welcome them.

All the children see the giant running in their direction and scurry out of the garden. All except one little boy who doesn’t see the giant coming because his eyes are filled with tears. You see he is too small to climb up in the tree and it makes him so sad. The giant lifts the little boy into the tree and the little boy rewards him with a hug and kiss.

On that day, the giant broke down the wall and the children were welcome to play there again. The children came to play with the giant in the garden but the little boy whom the giant had loved was never seen again and no one really knew who he was or where he lived. Years passed, the seasons came and went, and the giant became old and feeble and each day he looked for the little boy.

One winter’s morning, in the far corner of the garden the giant saw a tree covered in blossoms and underneath it stood the little boy, the giant could barely believe it eyes. He ran to the boy and as he got close to him the giant’s face filled with anger. He could see that in the boy’s hands and feet were the prints of nails. “Who wounded you, I will slay them he shouted.” But the child told him “No, these are wounds of love”. Then the child told him “You let me play in your garden once and today you shall come with me to my garden, Paradise.”

The giant gave love freely to one small child and it changed his life forever. Christ gave His love freely and He changes our lives when we accept it.

Today, we can share God’s love with someone, and it will not only change their life but ours as well. God’s love is the undoing of a selfish heart.