Pastor's Pen: Big Things in Small Packages

As we reach the last month of the calendar, now is the time to make those Christmas wish lists. In all honesty, it’s been decades since I sat down with the Sears Wishbook catalog and wrote my own list. Nonetheless, I can guarantee that presents still dance in children's heads. Unfortunately, this December, a song keeps dancing in my head that I can’t get out. It’s about a most unusual present.

In 1953, the 10-year-old native of Oklahoma City, Gayla Peevey, sang “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” In the song, she croons that the hippo can stay in the family’s two-car garage, and she promises to feed and wash him. Unfathomably, the song hit the top of the charts, selling half a million copies. Peevey even had a stint on the Ed Sullivan Show.

The thought of a hippopotamus living in suburbia just hit the right nerve. The two-ton beast could certainly throw his weight around. Living in backyard swimming pools and eating 100 pounds of grass a day would be a sight. Human beings certainly like spectacle. That’s probably why the drug lord Pablo Escobar got some hippos for his estate, which have now run amok, causing lots of problems for his neighbors.

However, presents don’t have to be big to be impactful. The original Christmas present came in a very small package. The Apostle Paul tells us that God “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness” (Phil 2:7). The Savior of the world came as a little baby with cute cheeks and chubby legs. That’s the irony of the good news. Instead of spectacle, God often shows up in small packages. The Kingdom of God starts as small as a mustard seed or the sacrifice of two small coins, but the love of God will eventually turn the universe upside-down.

The Christmas season doesn’t have to be big, loud, or boisterous. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Nonetheless, I hope you will take some small, quiet moments this season to ponder the love that came down at Christmas.

By the way, Peevey got her hippopotamus. The Oklahoma City Zoo launched a fundraiser in which children contributed their allowances to buy a baby hippo. Peevey could visit her hippopotamus safely at the zoo.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor James