Monday, 26^th December, 2016.

Bible reading: Deuteronomy 15:10-11, Isaiah 58:7.

Memory Verse: We beg you, our friends, to pay proper respect to those who work among you, who guide and instruct you in the Christian life. 1 Thessalonians 5:12 (GNT)

Hello children of God, hope you had a very fantastic Christmas Celebration and today is Boxing

day and unlike the name , it isn’t a day to fight your neighbours or have a boxing competition.

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the earliest attestations from England in the 1830s, defining it as “the first week-day after Christmas-day, observed as a holiday on which post-men, errand-boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas-box”.

According to them, the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but took the following day off. As servants prepared to leave to visit their families , their employers would present them with gift boxes as a sign of gratitude for their help working on Christmas day.

Another theory is that the boxes placed in churches where parishioners deposited coins for the poor were opened and the contents distributed on December 26.

I charge you today to “Box” your Parents, teachers, Aunties and Uncles in your school and Churches. It may not be anything too expensive. According to our memory verse, you must learn to appreciate those who labour over you especially in the Word in the Word of God.

You could also “Box” your friends and siblings. The best gift you can give to a friend is anything of Eternal reward e.g. a good Christian book or a copy of a devotional such as the one you’re reading.

Keep “Boxing” without throwing punches! Happy Boxing day to you.

Key point: The best gift you can give to a friend is anything of Eternal reward.

Prayer points

1. I receive a giving heart, in the name of Jesus.

2. My Father and my Lord, give me my End of the year gift, in the name of Jesus.