Advent ABC's: Myrrh

I googled: What are the most popular baby shower gifts, and this is what one site suggested:
Bouncy Seat
Baby monitor
Bedding
Baby sling
Activity gym
Bath kit
Library of children books
Out-and-about Kit
Sleep Kit
Set up a group of meal providers

And here I thought it was disposable diapers.

Any way you look at it, myrrh would probably not be on anybody’s 10 ten list! Someone suggested that if the gifts had come from Three Wise Women instead of Three Wise Men, the gifts would have been way more practical! Gold and frankincense were less likely to be questioned, but myrrh? Why would you give a new mother the equivalent of embalming fluid as a baby gift?

There are those who suggest that Jesus lived his whole life with the end in mind. Imagine how he must have felt coming into the carpenter shop to work with his Dad Joe. Carpenters didn’t just fashion furniture, there was pretty good money to be had for making coffins and crosses. Imagine Jesus fashioning a cross.

What can we learn from Jesus in this matter of living with the end in mind? What difference would it make in our everyday decisions and how we set our goals? If we thought the words we said to someone were the last words we would say, would be the last words someone would remember, would we speak more kindly, more directly, more honestly?