By DONALD DeMARCO
There are many reasons for wrapping Christmas presents. The obvious one is to make the packaged gift look attractive, decorated with colorful bows and wrapping paper that displays cheerful seasonal images.
Another is to hide the present from view. A present should not reveal itself until the proper time.
A third reason is to put the recipient in a state of wonder, which can also be a state of nervous anticipation.
My favorite reason, and I dare to think the most important one, is so that the beneficiary can say “thank you” twice.
The first thanks is for the gift, though yet unopened, and is an expression of confidence for the giver’s assumed generosity and thoughtfulness. The first thank you disposes us for the second which is for the gift itself, a form of thanks, presuming the gift does have personal value, which will be permanently attached to the gift.
This double thanks bears a significant relationship with our life. We all come into the world as wrapped gifts. Parents look upon their newborn child and are grateful for the gift of life, and wonder how this gift will be “unwrapped” to reveal a unique and beautiful person. Time is the slow un-wrapper. It is in no hurry to reveal the inner value of the gift.
The tragedy of abortion is not to allow time to unwrap the gift of life so that the splendor of what was being concealed could be brought into the light. Abortion obviates the second thanks.
A Christmas present does not take much time to be unwrapped. The un-wrapping of the human being is a project that lasts a lifetime.
From the moment of conception, our life is a gift. In retrospect, we can thank God for having been created. The state of nothingness does not bid thanks. But we can continue to offer Him thanks for the blessings He has bestowed upon us as they manifest themselves over time.
This expression of thanks, however, is not simply a verbal gesture. It is living our life in a way that is proper to the gift. Just as we should not want to damage our unwrapped Christmas present, so too, we should not want to sully the life that God has given us. Our gratitude demands that we take proper care of it.
Mom and Dad say thank you to God for their newborn child and get to work immediately, through love and education, to ensure that the child grows and flourishes. Birthdays celebrate not only the day of birth but all that the celebrant has achieved since he arrived in the world. They are a continuing series of second thanks. God gave us the gift of life. Parents hope and pray that their child’s life is an enduring hymn of thanks.
Deo gratias can be a lifelong prayer. And as G.K. Chesterton has written, “we should thank God for beer and burgundy by not drinking too much of them” (Orthodoxy, published in 1908).
A friend of mine donated a kidney to his son. “Thank you, Dad” was easy for the recipient to say since the gift saved his life. Unfortunately, the second thanks was lacking. Despite being advised to the contrary, the son was reckless in his diet, thereby endangering his health. The absence of the second thanks was an absence of gratitude. “How sharper than a serpent’s tongue,” wrote Shakespeare, “than to have a thankless child” (King Lear).
Success in life is firmly connected with the determination to persist in being who we are, following our authentic life path, and not backsliding in moments when life becomes difficult.
In sports something called the “second effort” is highly praised. We may sometimes struggle with our initial effort, but we should not be dismayed. One difficulty often presents the challenge of overcoming a second. In What’s Wrong With the World? (1910), G.K. Chesterton writes about “the principle of the second wind.” In everything we do that is worthwhile, there comes a point where the effort seems too demanding. Therefore, we need a “second wind” in order to survive that moment of discouragement.
“The joy of battle,” he writes, “comes after the first fear of death; the joy of reading Virgil comes after the bore of learning him; the glow of the sea-bather comes after the icy shock of the sea bath; and the success of the marriage comes after the failure of the honeymoon. All human vows, laws, and contracts are so many ways of surviving with success this breaking point, this instant of potential surrender.”
The second thanks often requires a second wind.
When we wrap a Christmas present, we do so with the hope that our recipient is truly a beneficiary. We hope that our gift will be prized and safeguarded. When God creates us, He does so with the hope that we will live out our lives in accordance with their natural inclinations, which include our desire to love, to choose what is good, the seek truth, to work for justice, and to worship God.
Our first thanks is for life itself; or second thanks is the gratitude we express in the form of making sure that our inaugural gift is properly put into practice. And if our second thanks occasionally needs a boost, or second wind, the strength of our gratitude should be sufficient to provide it.
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