The 8,000 Mile Gift

One thing I’ve grown to genuinely dislike is crowded stores. It’s especially maddening when I don’t even know what I’m looking for—and at Christmas, when thousands of other people are wandering the aisles with the same confused look on their faces. In that sense, Amazon has become a small Christmas miracle for me. I can shop quietly, on my own schedule, find a good deal, and do it all from the comfort of my couch. No parking. No crowds. No stress.
This year, as I was shopping for my brother-in-law, I thought about what he actually loves. He’s a devoted West Ham United fan (a football club from England) and enjoys a good beer. So I found what felt like the perfect gift: a West Ham beer glass, coasters, and a bar towel—all stamped with the club’s insignia. For $13 plus $3.50 shipping, I checked another gift off the list. I assumed the price was so low because West Ham isn’t exactly flying off the shelves in the U.S. (or, honestly, much beyond East London).

Five days later—right on schedule—the package arrived. As I looked at the shipping label, something caught my eye. The gift had been sent from a small town called Ilford… just ten miles from where my sister and brother-in-law actually live.

It dawned on me what had happened.

This gift had traveled nearly 4,000 miles across the ocean to reach me—so that I could wrap it—only to be sent almost 4,000 miles back to where it started. Nearly 8,000 miles of travel… just so it could look nice in festive paper for about half a second.

It’s funny—but it’s also revealing.

Haven’t you noticed how far we go at Christmas just to make things look right?

• Think about the millions we spend decorating our homes.
• Think about the time, money, and energy we pour into presenting ourselves just right—our clothes, our image, our carefully curated appearance.
• Think about the elaborate stories we sometimes tell, or the truths we hide, just to keep things looking polished on the outside.

None of these things is evil. Beauty and celebration are good gifts. But sometimes we take them to ridiculous lengths. As a culture, we can become far more invested in the wrapping than the gift.

The apostle Peter speaks directly to this tendency when he writes:

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment… Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (1 Peter 3:3–4)

His point is simple and freeing: the real beauty isn’t in the packaging. It’s in what’s inside.
An 8,000-mile journey is a long way to make a beer glass look pretty—but people often go even further to get their own “wrapping” just right.

This Christmas, may we slow down enough to remember what truly matters. Focus on the gift—not the wrapping. The beauty that lasts isn’t what we put on display, but who we are becoming on the inside.