Gift Giving

For most of us this holiday season, we spend a lot of time focusing on giving. I know that many of my friends LOVE the holiday season for it's sales and shopping. The stores are all decorated, Christmas music fills the air, and we are full of the giving spirit! Then we rush home to put on more Christmas music, decorate the tree, fix the hot chocolate, and wrap the gifts we bought for our loved ones.

Last night, I was reminded that there is an even greater gift we can give than the ones under the tree this Christmas day. It's the gift of ourselves and our time. If we TRULY love someone, we need to be as involved in their lives as we can be. We need to give, not only of our time, but of our emotions, hearts, intellect, and spirituality. You see, loving someone is more than spending time with them or trying to bless them--loving someone is trying to be the person they need you to be. It's having a spiritual word or scripture to bless their day. It's understanding where they are and praying for God to move them to where they want to be. It's adding your faith to theirs for all of the things they want out of life. It's being an ear when they need to talk.

What would our Christmas season be like if those were the ONLY gifts we gave this year?