A few thoughts on gifts.

I started writing for the newspaper again and I submitted an article on giving as it was for the December 2017 edition. I posted a picture of my article in the paper on Facebook to show people what I was up to and they all said wanted to read it! So here it is... better late than never.

GIVING FROM THE HEART
December 2017

Before Thanksgiving Day had passed, fliers and ads were filling up our mailboxes with holiday discounts and perks for the savvy shopper. A jaunt through the neighbourhood revealed homes adorned with Christmas lights and festive décor. Establishments and stores had likewise switched to a wintery theme. During a visit to the Post Office I noticed a postman bundled up against the cold wind, loading an open trailer with lots of boxes taped up with Amazon labels. The season of gifts had begun.

We’ve been conditioned by our society to find our giving spirit this time of year. We listen to the Christmas favourites, bake holiday treats, and put up a pine tree, bringing back all those lovely Christmas things reminiscent of our childhood. And yet, the wish to give gifts to our friends and family is likely the strongest tide pulling us to spend a little extra money this time of year.

While the commercial world makes gift giving a matter of necessity, a true gift is a rare and beautiful thing. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay on gifts, he conveys, “Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me. Therefore the poet brings his poem; the shepherd, his lamb; the farmer, corn; the miner, a gem; the sailor, coral and shells; the painter, his picture; the girl, a handkerchief of her own sewing. This is right and pleasing, for it restores society in so far to its primary basis, when a man’s biography is conveyed in his gift, and every man’s wealth is an index of his merit. But it is a cold, lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy me something which does not represent your life and talent, but a goldsmith’s.”

Emerson was correct in saying, “He is a good man who can receive a gift well.” We expect a lot in this season of gifts. We expect our bank accounts to keep up with our level of generosity, our gifts to be accepted with great appreciation and delight, and especially that we might receive the very gifts we desire the most as well. 2 Corinthians 9:11 sums it up, “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

Truly, the best gift we can receive or share with anyone is the gift of salvation.  Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

My family used to make Christmas a really big deal. Under a twinkling tree there would be piles of gifts. Eventually my parents became disillusioned to the ways of the holiday season. While we don’t bring a tree indoors or buy each other gifts, we still celebrate the joys of Christmas, and focus on the gift of family and the many blessing we’ve received from the Lord.

I propose an idea that is difficult to accept amidst the clamour of the commercial gift giving season: That your gifts be not out of necessity because a friend or relative has given to you or expects a gift from you, or because it’s a tradition that you’ve kept each year. Instead, that you’d give when you are able to give out of the joy of blessing another.  There is nothing wrong with a material gift. After all, the magi’s gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were material things. Perhaps we cannot all afford to bestow such extravagant blessings but let us remember that giving is not to be done because the season demands it but rather because we’ve been blessed and therefore choose to bless others in return.  

James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no

variableness, neither shadow of turning.”