Week 3 ... Give More
Haven't we all, at one time or another,(it may be happening right now), wished that we could just "give more" at Christmas. I remember being so wrapped up and consumed with the need to buy, buy, buy presents for my wife, my kids. For me, my ability and maybe even my entire worth as a father and husband was to insure that on Christmas morning there were mountains of gifts to wallow in. We can become so fixated on how we might accomplish this that we end of spending more time scouring the ads than the words of scripture. In the end it seems, at least in my case, that in the quiet of the moments that immediately follow the day itself it occurs to me that what is remembered after the last remnants of tissue paper and bows are disposed of is not what was wrapped in them, but it was the person behind them. This might just be me, but sometimes the actual gift act as shields between the giver and the one receiving. What I mean by this is that sometimes, most of the time actually, what I would be most happy with would be a good cup of coffee and a conversation. The gift actually takes away from it. The intent may be to say "I love you" but the effect is that it actually replaces what would really say "I love you"; that being time...relationship. We all know the feeling "they are just hard to buy for". So don't. Don't just buy for them. Could it possibly be that the reason they are hard to buy for is that we really don't know them. Perhaps the best gift to give, the one that really takes more, costs more, demands more... the gift of time... is the only thing really worth giving. When God came to the point that no matter how much he blessed those he loved he was still longing for relationship, he did the only thing that he could do. He gave himself...relationally, incarnationally, unconditionally. His gift is relationship. What might happen if we did the same?
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Very well said, Dan. At one point, it was very difficult for me to accept being told by my wife that it was "ok" when I got her what I saw as a less-than-worthy gift. I was incorrectly adding value and worth to gifts based on their prices. Quite honestly, a small portion of it was preparation for the guilt and pressure of having to answer the question of what I got my loved ones. Gifts are great, but they have their time and place and our consumer-driven nation has been hypnotized by the material things. We still share gifts, but we are now careful to not confuse them with, in this case, the true significance of Christmas.
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