These are short, busy days before Christmas, so here’s a super short, true story to read in a few minutes. Many years ago, when our family was living in a remote jungle area, a kind aunt decided we needed a Christmas fruitcake so we could celebrate the holiday properly even when half a world away. (Practically speaking, a world away.) So she mailed us a delicious fruitcake in a festive tin in plenty of time to arrive for Christmas. However, to everyone’s disappointment (except dear Husband, who has never developed a taste for it), the anticipated fruitcake never arrived. I’ll amend the word never. It didn’t arrive on time. Or in January, or February, or March, or . . . Our thoughtful aunt felt bad that her gift didn’t reach us. We had several conspiracy theories about the whereabouts of said fruitcake. Customs officials being one of them. So it was that our family on both sides of the globe had resigned ourselves to our fruitcakeless existence.
That is, until the following December. To our amazement, our normal shipment from the city via small plane to our remote location had more than our mail (no cell phones or even phones in those days), and our meat and veggies. There was a worse-for-the-wear parcel. This beleaguered parcel had postmarks from India, Iceland, and several other”I” countries- maybe Italy or Iran- and only lastly, our adopted country of Indonesia. The return address was none other than our sweet aunt’s! The fruitcake had taken a world tour! We had little hope that the contents would be edible. Anticipating a moldy mess, I gingerly unwrapped the tattered package. But there was the pretty tin, only slightly dented. And inside, to our astonishment, was a sealed fruitcake in perfect condition! I took the first slice- just to make sure it wasn’t spoiled, of course. Ha! Ha! It was still delicious even after its world tour.
So why am I telling the tale of the wandering fruitcake that I think of at Christmas? Because I feel it’s a parable. Sometimes, what appears to be hopeless situations aren’t. Even after too long and against all odds, we may yet see what we’d hoped for. God isn’t limited by space or time since he dwells outside our limitations. And he can bring happy endings to sad stories in his own time. And sometimes things aren’t as they appear. The inside can be far different than the outside of people. God looks on the heart, not the appearance, and so should we. And I think there is another lesson: God protects us from circumstances beyond our control like the tin protected the fruitcake.
But even deeper, like the sealed fruitcake, he seals us with his Spirit so we are preserved as his own inheritance until the day he brings us into his eternal, perfect kingdom. All the forces of evil, all the wandering of our own hearts, all the decaying influences of our culture can’t ruin what he paid for and sealed. We are his own children bought with the precious blood of the Christmas child grown up to be a willing sacrifice. We are sealed with a part of himself inseparably joined to us in anticipation of our complete union with him on that anticipated celebration day. We’ll feast together with him. (Whether there will be fruitcake or not, I don’t know.) But I do know that the celebration will be like no other in the long, sad history of the world because it will be the ultimate happy ending and the happy beginning of the New Heavens and the New Earth. Pass the fruitcake!
“Look, your king is coming to you.
He is righteous and victorious,
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.
Because of the covenant I made with you,
sealed with blood,
I will free your prisoners
from death…” Zechariah 9:9, 11
“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you . . . It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began . . . for your sake.” 1 Peter 1:18-20
“The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.” Ephesians 1:14
“. . . the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30
For further reading: Stories about the Nativity from previous blogs
Set of three historical fiction stories for adults and children
Personal experience Christmas stories from past Christmases
Our faith gives us hope and endurance. Thank you for the funny fruitcake story!!!
Yes, hope and endurance! The Lord has such a good sense of humor.
I feel wrapped in the wonder, again and again.
Same story, great truth, the Savior came for me, and for all.
The story is ever new, ever old. Yes, he came for me and for all! Thanks, dear Anita.