You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. -Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
I feel like I am a good gift giver. Most times (not always, mind you), I've been able to really pull it together and give a good gift. Not that I'm bragging. But there's something in my brain that makes me remember the weirdest things. Of all the things my co-worker has told me, I remembered that his favorite story is about the Monkey King (it's a Chinese tale about Buddha) and, while in Hong Kong, I bought him a Monkey King. Random, I know. But those are the types of things I remember.
One year, for my husband's birthday, I bought him tickets to see an Indians game at Yankees Stadium, 6 rows behind first base. I surprised my little brother (who is somewhat of a geek, like me) with tickets to Hamlet (sure, it was a gift for me too). It always excites me to give a good gift.
Now, obviously Jesus gave the best gift of all. You open up all the Christmas-wrapped boxes and you got...Socks, under shirts, an embarrassing book from Aunt Jennie and then you see that Jesus gave you eternal salvation. Hmmm. Which one are you going to return? I'm keeping that last one!
Right now, there is the possibility that I could...MAYBE...be giving a gift that I never really thought of. I don't want to go into too much detail because I haven't even cleared the donor questionnaire, but...it's a super big deal. And it's scary. And I'm kind of scared. And I e-mailed the woman (who I don't know) because I saw her sign at church. We share our building with another congregation and she goes to BUCC and I go to Advent. But I saw it and I just...felt like I should e-mail her. I still feel like I could lose my lunch when I think about it all. And I shouldn't even be contemplating it. Because almost everything is too far away.
But if I can do this and give this gift to her, could you imagine? They would say it's the gift of life, but...this life. A gift for this life, for sure. I think that's more then I really could ever have imagined giving and that is amazing.
I want to know: what is the best gift you've ever been given? Or what is the best gift you feel like you ever gave?
What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. -Eleanor Powell
