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Give Me
What You Got
By Jerri Phillips
The Christmas presents are going to be
a little different around our house this
year. For Anna, I am painting
her school desk pink. For
Rob's present, a friend of ours came over
and put up a ceiling fan that I bought
Rob for his birthday - back in
August. For me, well, I am
hoping for a gallon of blue paint and
some time to work in the
bedroom. We don't know about
Robert. Maybe we'll just go
find him a really cool box somewhere and
let him rip the paper before joyously
exploring the many options a box holds.
Not the typical Christmas list, I
suppose, but that's okay.
We're tired of the typical Christmas.
Granted, our gift selection may not be
socially impressive, but they are chosen
with great love and care. In
this house, that alone is more important
than how much money we spend.
Just so we understand each other, this
is not a rage against the system
situation. We are not on a
mission to wrestle back the true meaning
of Christmas from the miserly fists of
the money-grubbing
corporates. In fact, in some
cases, I think expensive gifts are
appropriate. For instance, I
read about a young man who adopted his
five nieces and nephews after his sister
and brother-in-law were killed in car
wreck. He had no house, only
a two-bedroom apartment. He
had a very old car that would not hold
all the children. He had been
attending college but dropped out to get
a second job to meet the financial
needs. After the story was in
the newspaper, people came
forward. This new family was
given a Suburban and a house was made
available, among other
things. People gave
generously, and needs were met. Yes, my
friend, there are times when expensive
gifts are quite appropriate.
However, too often we feel that
inexpensive gifts are not worth giving,
and that simply is not true.
Sometimes gifts of our time or energy are
more appreciated than something with a
large price tag wrapped in a pretty box.
For instance, there is a woman in our
church who organizes meals for a member
of our congregation who is undergoing
chemotherapy. For several
days after each treatment, members of the
church and community drop food by for the
family. One woman doesn't
have a lot of time to cook, but she tries
to supply some form of meat for
sandwiches for lunch. Another
woman periodically drops in to clean
house. Are those expensive
gifts? Hardly. But they are
treasured gifts when you are in need.
I recently had a small open house for
some lady friends, and one of them was
sharing that she met a woman who makes
huge pots of soup each Monday and takes
it around to cancer patients because they
can often eat soup when nothing else will
stay down.
My husband gives me the gift of
"thinking of you"
daily. He sends me e-cards
each day, and while it may seem like a
very small thing, I always look forward
to them. He always tells me
that he is looking forward to seeing me
in the evening and that he loves
me. Who doesn't need to hear
that, and who wouldn't appreciate it from
their best friend?
My aunt crochets quite a bit and sells
some of the things she makes. However,
she gives quite a bit to people in
nursing homes too. Those
precious people are often cold, and a
nice lap afghan is a true blessing.
When I was pregnant with Robert, we
made a number of emergency trips to the
doctor's office. We were
blessed by a number of people who would
let us drop Anna off at a moment's notice
so we wouldn't have to take her with us.
I could mention the woman who made me
Jell-O when I had the flu and drove
nearly thirty minutes to bring it to me
because she didn't want me to
dehydrate. There was my
pastor, Marshall Stewart, who drove a
bunch of camp children nearly 200 miles
to Abilene, Texas, early in the morning
and then turned around and drove nearly
200 miles back to Denton, Texas, as soon
as he could just so he could be with me
when I had knee surgery. I
could go on and on, but I think you get
the point.
Each instance I've mentioned came
without a bow. No tags or
tape were included, and yet, these are
all valuable, and sometimes priceless
gifts. In most cases, they were
appreciated more than anything from
Neiman's or Dillard's. You
know why? Because it met a
need, often a need of the heart. These
gifts squelched fears, brought a smile,
and conveyed love. Those are
the gifts that most people want anyway,
and they will be remembered long after
Christmas, birthdays, or anniversaries
are past.
Now, you may be thinking that you just
don't have any of those gifts to
give. I don't buy that for
one moment. It says in
Genesis that we are created in the image
of God, and one of the most mind-blowing
things God does is give.
Therefore, it should be something we do
simply because we are His children.
You may also argue, as some I know,
that you just never think about it. What
you are really saying is that it never
occurs to you spontaneously. Not a
problem. Buying for Christmas
doesn't happen spontaneously for most
people either. Buying for
anniversaries and birthdays, even less
so. Don't let that stop
you. Do what most people do,
make a list. Yes, make a
list. Put it on your calendar Make it
part of your daily or weekly schedule so
you remember easier.
A simple way to start is look in your
church bulletin. Who is on
the prayer list? Give one of
them (preferably the least known because
they are the ones more likely to need
help and least likely to receive it) a
call and ask how you can minister to
them. Ask what they
need. A trip to the drugstore
for medicine maybe?
Dinner? If you can't cook,
don't let that stop you. There are
restaurants all over the place that you
can choose from. Just tell
them to pick what they want; you'll do
the delivery. One of the most
moving things that anyone has done for me
was when a friend came over and asked
what I wanted for lunch.
Completely to my surprise. I
was so tired and stressed from Anna
having been sick for several days while
Rob was out of town that I didn't know,
so Buddy went on his own to find
something. He returned with
take out from one of my favorite
restaurants. Inside my
container was my favorite chicken dish
from that particular place.
Coincidence? I don't think
so. The Lord has a way of
directing a loving heart. And
if you let Him, He can direct you, too.
Sometimes we equate great gifts with
large amounts of money, and that is truly
sad because that often leaves basic human
needs, like the needs for kindness,
reassurance, and love, unmet.
In 1 Corinthians chapter twelve, Paul
talks about the gifts of the spirit, and
he gives a discourse on each one, and
when he is done, he says, "But
earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet
I show you the more excellent
way." And then he begins
what is often referred to as the love
chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. He
concludes that simply with the sentence,
"The greatest of these is
love." As I said, there
are times when expensive gifts are
appropriate, but what gives them value is
not the money with which they were
purchased but rather the love with which
there were given. As long as
we allow love to direct us, our gifts,
whether purchased at a great price or
simply given with great heart, will be
treasured blessings for a long time to
come.
I never cease to be amazed by the mass
rush to shop and buy presents at
Christmas. It really seems
rather senseless to me, not that I am
humbug on Christmas, but why should such
opportunity for giving be centered on
only one day? If indeed we
want to embody the true meaning of
Christmas, shouldn 't we do it like
Christ did, in big ways and small ways,
every day of the year? Not
sure what to give? Just give
them what you've got and wrap it in
love. It'll be all their
hearts desire, and it will truly be an
excellent thing.
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