Governor Kristi Noem’s Weekly Column: The Greatest Gift

The Greatest Gift
By: Governor Kristi Noem
December 22, 2023

During the holiday season, we are surrounded by many gifts. I’m sure we can all remember growing up and not being able to sleep the night before Christmas. The anticipation and the excitement for the presents that would be underneath the tree the next morning was just too much to handle. Through all of that excitement, though, I hope we can all remember the greatest gift of them all: Jesus Christ.

I remember one year my parents got me a new saddle for Christmas. Now, this was significant because normally my mom did all the shopping, but I knew that my dad had to go and pick it out. Another year, we went on a scavenger hunt all over the ranch looking for a big family present. We finally found it and it was a brand-new snowmobile. This was very special because all of our friends had snowmobiles and we didn’t. And searching for it as a family just made it even more special.

As we all get older, the gifts of the holidays shift from the material things that we unwrap on Christmas morning to the people we spend it with – the time that we all get to share together. I know that as my own kiddos have grown up and moved out of the house, I cherish the moments that our whole family gets to spend together even more than I did before. Christmas is one of the rare times when we all get to be under one roof again.

During this year’s abundance of gifts and giving, we shouldn’t forget that Jesus Christ is the greatest gift of all. The promise of Jesus’ birth and the hope that it brought to the world will never grow old. It will never be broken. And we should never throw away that gift.

John 1:14 reads, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus, the Son of God, became fully human. He humbled himself – knowing that He would suffer beyond what any of us could ever imagine – to save us. And Christmas is the day that we celebrate His birth. It’s important for us all to remember how great a gift Jesus is.

As we head into a week full of gifts and time spent with loved ones, I encourage you to remember the greatest gift. We live in a world that is so often full of anger and violence. I think that we could all really benefit from slowing down and remembering Jesus this Christmas.

I pray that we are able to teach our kids and our grandkids that Jesus is the greatest gift. He is worthy of our love and praise every day of the year, but especially on Christmas.

This Christmas, I am thankful for the greatest gift the world has ever received: Jesus Christ. Bryon and I are wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. God bless you.

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