| Sunny Side Up Dec. 14, 2005 �2005, Kathleen Gibson Learning to Give like God No aspect of Christmas is more tangled in worry, frustration and angst than the gifts we give. We want do it right, but so often we end up feeling we've done it all wrong. Right? To make up for it, some settle for giving LOTS instead of giving well. I love the way God gives gifts. Each and every one, including the Baby in the manger, comes from his bottomless heart of love. A parent heart that aches for intimate connection with the people he created. That longs to provide meaning beyond temporary sustenance into eternal abundance. One sure way to give gifts well is to choose to pattern our gift-giving as much as possible after God's. It's so much easier to aim lower, to give something that's merely expensive, practical, lovely, or the latest fad, but this year why not reach for gifts from the heart? Gifts that have meaning beyond temporary enjoyment. Like God's gift of his Son, the best gifts come from a place of personal sacrifice. One family I know forgoes gift-giving among themselves completely, in order to have a little extra money to help others. Another leaves a large hamper on someone else's doorstep each year - anonymously. And just recently I heard of a family who makes an annual Christmas trek to Mexico, where they build houses for the homeless. While in ministry a retired pastor we know encouraged his congregations to give birthday gifts to Jesus - each family contributed money equal to the most costly gift given in their home. The congregation then donated the total, in Jesus' name, to struggling families in their midst. The Preacher gave me a gift from the heart a few years ago (he's good at that) - a letter taped to a cookie sheet. The letter said he'd sent money in my name to a Christian humanitarian organization working to free slaves in Sudan. "I taped it to the cookie sheet," he said, "so that every time you bake cookies you'll remember." Joy to the World, the Lord has come�I hummed it all day. Even today, when I use that cookie sheet, it's the sweet fragrance of freedom that fills my senses. That's the thing about gifts from the heart - large or tiny, they stay warm for years, long after other gifts are used up, forgotten, or politely acknowledged and stored for re-gifting. Someone (I don't know who, but they left a clue, so I'll find out) dropped off a gift like that just yesterday. Whoever it was had gone onto my website (I assume), and printed off two photos of the Preacher and I each holding our grandson. Then they'd fashioned them into a lovely oval ornament as a keepsake of our first Christmas as grandparents. We loved it. And more - it inspired me to do something similar for someone else. That, I think, is what marks the best gifts - they keep on giving. Just like God. Respond Home |
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