“WHAT CAN I GIVE HIM?”
Image by valeria_aksakova on Freepik
By: Frank Tunstall, D. Min.
Christina Rossetti authored a poem in 1872 that only appeared after her death. About thirty years later the poem was set to music and titled “A Christmas Carol.” Today, we know it as “In the Bleak Midwinter.”
Rossetti was a devoted follower of Christ Jesus who for many years volunteered at the Saint Magdaleen House of Charity, a refuge for women coming out of a life of prostitution.
In the Victorian Era of her day economic forces often caused women to eke out a living by selling their bodies. Some of the women were only twelve years old. Rosetti’s efforts came through in her poems, offering them Jesus’ love and helping to find better jobs for these marginalized women.
For instance, the Christmas Carol pictures a Savior who entered our world of suffering and brokenness – a world much like “the bleak midwinter of Rossetti’s native England. “Heaven cannot hold [Jesus] nor earth sustain Him” and yet a “stable and a manger full of hay cradled Him.”
The poem asks:
“What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
Her answer says there is one thing all of us can give to Jesus no matter who they are:
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man
I would do my part.
Yet what would I give Him?
Give Him my heart.
THINK ABOUT IT:
Regardless of your scarred past or your present struggles, Jesus wants one gift from you above all others – your heart. A heart to believe and trust His sovereign power over all problems and circumstances. A heart that permits Him to take your life as it is and lead you into a new future that will include eternal life.
