This year Yoga 4 Philly is partnering with The Simple Way to collect new toys for their toy drive, The Christmas Store. Tomorrow kids from the Kensington area of Philadelphia will select a new toy of their choosing as a Christmas present sponsored by The Simple Way, Yoga 4 Philly, and other participants. As I shopped for toys, I was excited to pick out various toys. Thankfully, I have never purchased a toy for my own children because they are spoiled by their extended family members. So the experience of shopping for toys for children was relatively new for me. Naturally, I began to collect what was culturally deemed to be boys’ toys, then I realized that I also needed to collect what was culturally deemed to be girls’ toys. A grandmother and a boy helped me decide what to purchase. It was a fun experience!

While shopping, I began to think about the wise men who saw the star rising in the sky in Matt. 2. For the wise men, the star signified that the chosen baby was born—the one who would become the King of the Jews. The wise men gathered gold, frankincense, and myrrh to present to Jesus. Though we can expound on the significance of each of these items, there is something that struck me while I was pushing the shopping cart. The kids in Kensington, for the most part, are living in a predominantly low-income and drug-infested area. When you walk down the streets of Kensington, you will see some of God’s beautiful creatures high on opioids and shooting up drugs. Someone without a vision for brighter days can walk around the streets and see only death. Part of the vision for Yoga 4 Philly is to offer free yoga classes in the Kensington area for local residents and those who are recovering from drug abuse.

Yet like the wise men who saw a vision of Jesus despite the fact that he was born in a manger and was on the run because the government was seeking to kill him, the gifts were a reminder that Jesus is King. Jesus needed to be treated like royalty though his destiny had not yet been fulfilled. Consequently, the kids who will pick a toy tomorrow are kings and queens who, in spite of their contexts, will be agents of good in the world. I do not know what the future holds for these kids, but my gifts to them are no longer about Christmas; they’re a statement of my hopes and dreams that they will be great. The girls and boys who will pick a toy must be treated as great human beings who are great now and have greater things in store for them.

My prayer for whoever selects a toy Yoga 4 Philly purchased is that they will be destined to rise above what they see now, and that they will see a brighter vision to influence their neighborhood and ultimately the world. Maybe Christmas isn’t all about providing gifts that kids desire. Maybe the point is for the giver to begin praying over the gifts so that our kids will receive the power needed in order to make our world a better place.