Seasonal reflections on gift-giving and a Christmas classic

Goodwill Hunting

Someone’s cast-off isn’t garbage.
Just because it’s old to them,
doesn’t mean it has no value.
You can give it life again.
Giving thrift store gifts at Christmas
illustrates what God has done.
What was broken and deemed worthless
was the object of his Son
when he came to earth to save us.
Goodwill hunting was his aim.
Why not shop at stores whose purpose
isn’t just the number’s game?

Polar Express Expressions
A poetic expression of gratitude to Chris Van Allsburg, the author and illustrator of The Polar Express

You dipped your pen in a chocolaty brew
and then you drew a train that flew
into my daughters’ sleepy heads
before they climbed aboard to bed.

Imagination tips your brush
and so your paintings caused a hush.
Our silent nights around your book
made even Grandma take a look.

Each page brought joy into our world
as flakes of snow began to swirl
outside their bedroom window pane.
And then we heard that magic train.

Your canvas is a child’s heart.
But that, my friend, is just the start
of what lives on once they have grown
when time (on polar tracks) has flown.

Editor’s Note: Rhymes & Reasons appears early this week due to Greg’s appearance on the “Primetime America” radio program heard nationwide.