Gifts of the Heart

Do you get a little anxious around the holiday season? If we aren't careful, the whole gift-giving thing can turn into one stressed-out nightmare.

I confess, in years past Christmas was an anxious time for me. Wanting my children to know the real meaning of Christmas and yet longing to give them gifts they would like and enjoy... wondering if we would have money to buy gifts on a pastor's salary...

Though I struggled with falling into the world's trap of glitter and lights - longing for what seemed to be just out of my reach - in the end I discovered that it was the simple things that give the most lasting pleasure. The eternal things. And you know what? Even through the anxious years, it always seemed to work out just fine - despite my worries there was always something under the tree for the kids and lots of laughter and love. Though it took me awhile to learn the lesson, eventually I gave up being anxious and learned to trust God to handle the details.

And my children? Like most of us, they don't remember the 'stuff' they got for Christmas - they remember the times spent together as a family. The candlelight services, the reading of the Christmas story, and celebrating Christmas with their church family.

Several years ago my children and their spouses were all newlyweds (all three of my kids decided to get married within a year of each other!) We declared 'no gifts' at Christmas so there wouldn't be any financial strain on the young couples (or on my husband and I who were in transition and 'homeless' at the time).

It all sounded good, but I didn't want to miss out on the specialness of giving gifts - so 'Mom' declared that everyone would make gifts. (Yes, I hear the groans - but hang in there with me) Which is exactly what I told the kids - we would draw names, pray for the person whose name we drew, and create a gift for them. Once we got over the 'are you kidding me?' stage ideas started flying - You could draw a picture, write or sing a song, frame a favorite photo, share a memory, do a special job for someone...

On the day of our gift exchange, we were all actually pretty excited. And when we began to share our gifts we realized how wonderful an idea it really was. My daughter kept a prayer journal for her sister-in-law - and then she gave the journal to her as her present. My daughter-in-law downloaded guitar chords off a free site on the internet for songs off a new cd and gave them in a notebook to my daughter's husband - he was thrilled! The boys made up songs that had us falling off the couch with laughter, I wrote a child's story book for my son whose wife was expecting their first child. My gift from my son was a wonderful poem which he framed and sits on my dresser. A corn-hole game, a video, a worship cd by my daughter and son-in-law, and a framed drawing are some of the other gifts that have been created and given.

The whole 'make your own gift' idea that was met with groans ended up to be one of the best traditions we've had as a family! It has moved us away from the temporal towards the eternal. It has given us a rich sense of connectedness and wonderful memories of fun and a surprising amount of excitement and anticipation.

Try giving gifts of the heart this year - they last forever, you know.

All for Him,

Missy