The Four Best Gifts You Can Give This Christmas

I was reading the writings of a fellow pastor ... here is some of his thoughts

What is the one Christmas gift you’ve gotten that stands out above the rest? Why is it special? What about it makes you smile?

Usually, gifts we love are not treasured because of monetary value but the thoughtfulness that inspired them. Especially in light of the current economic state, let’s take a moment to pause and think about what goes into the making of a good gift. After all, we give gifts at Christmas because we are celebrating God’s good gift to us—the sending of His Son.

Distilling the season down to its essence, we find the best gifts are ultimately not about doing, but about being. As we approach gift-giving this season, let’s look to the nature of God as seen in the story of Christmas and keep those qualities in the forefront of our thoughts. Five of those characteristics are creativity, commitment, courage, care and quietness.

Gift #1: Creativity
For two millennia, people have wondered why the Messiah was born to a teenager, in a dirty stable, in dusty town, in the middle of nowhere. Add some outcasts (shepherds), foreigners (wisemen) and singing aliens (angels) and you’ve got the makings of a very strange plot! It’s a tale chock-full of intrigue, scandal, special effects, corrupt government and narrow escapes. Only a highly creative Person could have come up with all that!

Thinking creatively is as natural as breathing for some people and as painful as tooth extraction for others. In order to apply creativity to Christmas, I’m not suggesting you pull out some amazing artistic feat for every person on your list. But why not branch out and think of at least one creative gift you could give this holiday?

This is one of those areas where it’s the thought that counts. For example, one year I had just finished reading a psalm and wanted to respond in a creative way. I got out some watercolors and started painting. I have no artistic training (unless you count one class in high school) and had no idea what I was doing. Still, a scene emerged—a snowy hill with a bare tree, a dark sky with scattered stars.

Creativity takes many shapes and forms. One friend of mine received a very memorable Christmas gift from his grandmother. She had gone through all of her boxes of photos and created albums for each of her grandchildren, hand-selecting the pictures she thought would be special to each one.

There are also poems and original songs—the creativity in those pages astounds me. My favorite picture is toward the back. It’s a watercolor of Jesus on the cross, with the words “The price that was enough” written across it. It’s a wonderful heritage she left for us. Although Gramma passed away years ago, she is still very much with us at Christmastime.

Gift #2: Commitment
Whether looking at society, our families or even our church communities, we can see that commitment does not come easily to people. Have you ever wondered if commitment comes easily to God? I would hazard a guess and say no, not when you look at the kind of people he’s committing himself to!

When the virgin’s egg and the Holy Spirit met, God’s commitment to people reached a whole new level. In the different seasons of life, we are also given multiple opportunities to recommit or renege.

Christmas is a perfect time to get on board with what God is doing in our lives and to leave our fears in the dust. Whatever we are called to do— whether as large as a marriage proposal or as small as returning a library book— there is joy to be had in the giving.

Gift #3: Courage
Courage might not be the first word that springs to mind when thinking of Christmas. Yet, certainly there was great courage involved not only for Jesus to come to Earth, but also for the Father to send Him. God’s sacrifice was motivated by love but made possible by courage.

During the holidays, perhaps more than any other time, people can feel deep undercurrents of sadness, loss and loneliness. These painful feelings are in direct contrast with the carols ringing out, proclaiming a season of peace, joy and goodwill. The truth is, during the holidays, people are often in dire need of encouragement.

This Christmas, let’s look around and truly see people. Perhaps we’ll be given the chance to simply hug someone who needs it—the kind of embrace where we wrap our arms tightly around the person and let her cry out her tears until her smile is found again.

Gift #4: Quietness
I grew up attending The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, Calif., with Pastor Jack and Anna Hayford. Many of my memories of Christmas as a child are wrapped up in the way it was celebrated there. From twinkling white lights in every tree to the annual jazz concert, from family night stringing popcorn and watching movies to the staff Christmas parties that were rumored to be hilarious—Christmas was enjoyed!

There was a reason for the exuberance. Cognizant of the fact that there are always people in church with painful memories of Christmas, Pastor Jack and Anna felt it was one of their jobs to get people to realize that Christmas does not have to be ruined by their past. The happiness, joy and celebration of it can be regained—not because of the decorations but because of Jesus. And so, every Christmas, they would go all out.

Because I grew up at their church, and because I was a friend of their daughter (and because I may have TP’d their house a time or two,) Anna remains an influential person in my life. Knowing she has always been a very busy woman, I wanted to talk with her about this concept of being in the midst of all the doing that seems to go along with Christmas.

As we talked, one thing she said struck me as very profound: “I can go all day or I can go all evening, but I cannot go all day and all evening. A certain amount of quiet time has always been really important for me. I need to have some ‘drawing aside’ time.”

To allow for quiet time, Anna has learned to plan well and delegate. Whether it’s having teams of women help with decorating or hiring students to run errands, she has learned to roll with the punches and has found out that people are willing to help.

One day, her granddaughter Emma spotted a pile of gifts on the kitchen table waiting to be wrapped. She said, “Grandma, you have a lot of gifts to wrap. I can wrap gifts very well, and I’m a little short on cash.”

So began their special tradition. Emma comes each year to wrap gifts and earn some pocket money. Anna made up little business cards that say, “Wrapped by Emma,” which are tucked in with each package. I heard this story and thought to myself, “Ah, now here is the wisdom of a woman who gets it.” In the middle of all her responsibilities, she found a creative way to spend quiet time with her granddaughter.

She and Pastor Jack also find ways to have quiet time. They try not to travel much in December, and many times they end the day simply by sitting near the Christmas tree, enjoying the lights and worship music, and not even saying a word.

This Christmas, let’s not forget to be quiet. The birth of Jesus was an understated event in an out-of-the-way place. God is ever calling us into those quiet, secret places, just to be with Him. If indeed we want to become people not wrapped up in doing but instead focused on being, how can that be accomplished except that we set apart some time for drawing aside?

It is not realistic to expect every gift this Christmas to be life-impacting to the recipient. But if we keep in mind that God gave of Himself, how would it influence the way in which we go about giving gifts this season? Rather than leaving the resolutions for New Year’s, why not invite the Lord to work through the season of Christmas to shape our character, causing our lives to be a good gift to the people around us.

Have a Great Day

David

Young Leaders

I was reading a blog from Steve Tibbert ... and he challenges us to consider to bring up young leaders.

This is what he says ...

It’s not just wise football managers who invest in youth training. As a church leader spotting gifts and potential in young people and providing them with opportunities to grow in serving is a good investment. Give them input and on occasions give them their head! I have good reason to advocate this approach as I benefited from it myself.

The pastor of my home church began to invest in me when I was 20. By the age of 21 I was sitting in Elder’s meetings and was arrogant and opinionated. But all I learned then bore fruit in later situations as I had been exposed to the practice of leadership in previous years.

My plea is that leaders give responsibility at an early age. If you have young people that show potential then encourage them to aspire to the next level of leadership and provide learning and training opportunities that will stretch but not overwhelm them.

Good things to think about

Have a great day

David