Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.
Wonder why kids would hang stockings hoping for Saint Nicholas to soon be there? We must venture back to the early forth century and visit our Bishop of Myra once again.
A poor man in Myra had three daughters, but not enough money to pay their dowries. Today, that doesn’t seem like the worst problem in the world, but back around 300 AD, these three girls could not marry if they did not have a dowry. They would likely be forced into slavery or prostitution if they did not find husbands.
Nicholas, took gold from his personal accounts, slipped into their homes and left bags of gold coins in each girls socks. The socks hung by the fire to dry. All of this was done in secret, but his secret eventually was found out. Stories of Bishop Nicholas, later Saint Nicholas, spread after his death.
In honor of his memory, children left their stockings by the fire on Christmas Eve. Parents slipped oranges, apples and nuts into those stockings to surprise the kids.
Nicholas understood the scriptures
Matthew 6.
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Exercise
Have you ever helped someone without their knowing you helped them, without anyone knowing you helped that person? Describe how you did it.
Make a list of all the people you are aware of who are in need. Maybe they have huge financial needs that you have no way of fixing, but list everything.
Now look at the list. What could you do to help one person on your list? Maybe you can’t give them the money they need to fix their problems, but you could buy a bag of groceries and leave it on the porch for them.
Or could you spend your afternoons sitting with some lonely elderly shut in? They would know you were spending time with them, but don’t let them thank you are “helping them”,
Maybe you just find a child who never has any school supplies, or cloths and you send them periodic care packages in the mail as their secret santa.
Or you take in an elderly person’s garbage cans each morning so they don’t have to do so. Mow their grass when the weather warms. Or shovel their snow if you live where the white stuff falls.
The purpose here is not the secrecy; it is about doing for others without expecting any reward or recognition. You care about their dignity and their self respect. It is about them and not about you.
Fourth Day Adventures 