Gift Giving! (Hix)

Gift To Give This Christmas

Give the Gift of Listening – Really listen. No interrupting, no daydreaming, no planning your response. Just listening.

Give the Gift of Affection – Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds. Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family and friends.

Give the Gift of Laughter – Clip cartoons, share articles, funny stories, and a good joke. Your gift will say, “I love to laugh with you.”

Give the Gift of a Written Note – It can be a simple “Thanks for the help” note or an “I appreciate you” note. A brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime, and may even change a life.

Give the Gift of a Compliment – Everyone needs encouragement. Mark Twain said, “One compliment can keep me going for a whole month.”

Give the Gift of a Favor – Go out of your way to do something kind for someone.

Give the Gift of Solitude – There are times when we want nothing more than to have some peace and quiet. Be sensitive to those times, and give the gift of solitude to others.

Give the Gift of a Cheerful Disposition – The easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone. It’s not hard to be polite and courteous, to say “hello” or “thank you.”

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Once, after a pastor had made an appeal in church for a great and worthy cause, that a certain woman, a member of the church, came to him and handed him a check for $50, asking at the same time if her gift was satisfactory.

The pastor immediately replied, “If it represents you.”

There was a moment of soul-searching thought and she asked to have the check returned to her.

She left with it and a day of two later she returned handing the pastor a check for $5,000 and again asked the same question, “Is my gift satisfactory?”

The pastor gave the same answer as before, “If it represents you.”

As before, a truth seemed to be driving deeply. After a few moments of hesitation she took back the check and left. Later in the week she came again with a check. This time it was for $50,000.

As she placed it in the pastor's hand, she said, “After earnest, prayerful thought, I have come to the conclusion that this gift does represent me and I am happy to give it.”)

Does the gift that we give God, represent all of us?

Does God have all our attention, all our effort, all our resources?

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A.J. Gordon was the great Baptist pastor of the Clarendon Church in Boston, Massachusetts. One day he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field." "What are you going to do with them?" "I'm going to play with them, and then I guess I'll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, "Mister, you don't want them, they're just little old wild birds and can't sing very well." Gordon replied, "I'll give you $2 for the cage and the birds." "Okay, it's a deal, but you're making a bad bargain." The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue. The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ's coming to seek and to save the lost -- paying for them with His own precious blood. "That boy told me the birds were not songsters," said Gordon, "but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, 'Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!'"

Redeemed!….It's is in every carol sung this season:

Redeemed!…It's the meaning behind every gift given under the tree:

Redeemed!…It's the assurance Mary received:

Redeemed!…It's the Word the shepherds heard:

Redeemed!…It's the star the Wisemen followed:

You and I have been trapped by sin, but Christ has purchased our pardon. We

have been redeemed!