Giving and Receiving Gifts (Part 3 of 3)

Learning to Live (Series)

Lately the Lord has been opening my eyes to my reality.  He has kindly and lovingly been showing me the areas in my life that have been void of correction and instruction of His ways, void of experiencing His love in the general activities of learning how to live.  This has included revelations that go back through my childhood up through my present relationships with my husband and children.  He is redeeming these voids a few at a time, here and there, showing me what is and has been missing and following up with what needs to be exchanged or filled in.  I have been lost and pretending to live, but thankfully the Lord has prepared me for this season of learning from Him, personally, how to live.

***

In Giving and Receiving Gifts – Part 1 I shared that the Lord has been showing how preparation and sacrifice are valuable character elements of giving gifts.  In Giving andReceiving Gifts – Part 2  I shared that the Lord has been showing me how presentation and heart-felt sentiment are valuable charcter elements of giving gifts.  Here I continue with more that the Lord has been showing me, but about receiving gifts.

Receiving

Receiving a gift that has been given with such love as described in the past two posts ought to stir up a grateful heart for favor towards us which leads to an expression of thankfulness for the favor toward us.

It seems to me that receiving a gift involves a two elements. 

One part being that the gift exudes a feeling of “being known,” which is evidenced through the thought and preparation that noticeably went into the gift given.  When we feel “known” we feel loved and valuable, which draws us to have a grateful heart.

 (My daughter crocheted my son an Angry Bird 
knowing he likes to play Angry Birds in his free time)

Another part seems to include an attitude of having our eyes open and looking for the blessings, a willing and eager heart to “receive” blessing.  For example, if the gift was handmade, gratefulness includes noticing and paying attention to the details of the work done and receiving the love directed toward us with thankful expressions.  Being grateful seems to have an element of taking our eyes off of ourselves and directing thoughts of appreciation toward the one who gave so freely and sacrificially.

This makes me think of the Lord and how He gave us the gift of salvation so freely and sacrificially.  Do we have our eyes on Him, noticing the preparation, the sacrifice, the great details of the love He wants to pour out on us?  Do we have a grateful heart in all the details of life and are we expressing thankful sentiment toward Him?  He is the example of lovingly preparing and pouring Himself into the gift of salvation and continues to prepare our permanent home in Heaven.  My desire is to have a grateful heart in all things.

Summary

As I have worked through this series of posts, it all seems so very elementary, yet my understanding was so void and empty for lack of training in the ways of Love, in the ways of Christ.  In turn for these past years, I raised my children with an equally void understanding of Christ and how seemingly every day activities can model His love, but rather gave them experiences filled with empty flesh related ideas.   My heart is so grateful that His love is so good and so gently and never too late, that we have been given this opportunity to bring new loving ideas into our home that reflect Christ’s love.

Giving and Receiving Gifts (Part 2 of 3)

Learning to Live (Series)

Lately the Lord has been opening my eyes to my reality.  He has kindly and lovingly been showing me the areas in my life that have been void of correction and instruction of His ways, void of experiencing His love in the general activities of learning how to live.  This has included revelations that go back through my childhood up through my present relationships with my husband and children.  He is redeeming these voids a few at a time, here and there, showing me what is and has been missing and following up with what needs to be exchanged or filled in.  I have been lost and pretending to live, but thankfully the Lord has prepared me for this season of learning from Him, personally, how to live.

***

In Giving and Receiving Gifts – Part 1 I shared that the Lord has been showing how preparation and sacrifice are valuable character elements of giving gifts.  Here I continue with more that the Lord has been showing me.

Presentation the Final Step

Presentation is the final step in the process of preparing a gift to give.  Beautiful wrapping or packaging includes thoughtful, loving, sacrificial preparation, sometimes as much thought and preparation as the gift.  In addition to the wrapping or gift bag, the card provides an important final touch.  In many ways, it is the heart of the gift as what is written in the card can share a deep loving sentiment toward the receiver.  The words printed in the card may say just the right thing, but it’s the added personal words of affection and sentiment written by the giver that can deeply touch the heart of the receiver.

The wrapping and card use to be an afterthought for me that I often would scramble to put together at the last minute.  I remember thinking about the expense this added to the gift I was giving.  It would be just torn up and discarded, I questioned if it was necessary or appreciated.  My thought process was justification for self concern when it ought to have been on blessing the receiver.  The gift wrapping and card is that final touch that says you are valuable to me, you matter to me and you are worth every effort toward making this gift pleasing and special to you.   

One of the gift bags and cards my oldest daughter made

The Lord regularly teaches me through my children.  The Lord used my oldest daughter as an example to me, as she often makes or decoratively personalizes the gift bag and/or card for gifts she gives.  There have been times that she has taken several days beforehand creating and preparing her gift bag or card.  When the Lord was bringing understanding to me He reminded me of her and the precious time and effort she put into preparing and creating gifts and/or gift bags and cards.

Heart Felt Sentiment:

The final touch and I think the most important part of a gift is the written sentiment in a card toward the receiver.  A heart-felt sentiment is more than a birthday wish, but is a expression of what this person means to our heart and what a blessing they are and may include our hopes and prayers for them.  The card is the written expression of our love for the receiver.

Giving gifts in this way takes our eyes off of ourselves and focuses our eyes on blessing the recipient.  Giving gifts in this way is loving in a sacrificial Christ-like way and it is one of many ways that example Christ’s loves for us.  In John 15:12 Jesus tells us to “love like He loves” us.

This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. 

~John 15:12

Giving and Receiving Gifts (Part 1 of 3)

 Learning to Live (Series)

The Lord has been opening my eyes to my reality.  He has kindly and lovingly been showing me the areas in my life that have been void of correction and instruction of His ways, void of experiencing His love in the general activities of learning how to live.  This has included revelations that go back through my childhood up through my present relationships with my husband and children.  He is redeeming these voids a few at a time, here and there, showing me what is and has been missing and following up with what needs to be exchanged or filled in.  I have been lost and pretending to live, but thankfully the Lord has prepared me for this season of learning from Him, personally, how to live.

***

(Gifts my oldest daughter made for a friend)

One of my daughters and I were talking about her sister’s birthday as we were preparing to celebrate it.  She told me that she is beginning to enjoy giving gifts more than ever before.  She is growing and maturing in character.  This led to her and I discussing how “learning to give and receive gifts” can give us insight about the Gospel of Christ.

Due to religious ideas and family dynamics, gift giving is an area that was void in my upbringing.  My experience with celebrating holidays and birthdays, with giving and receiving gifts came from experiences outside my family life.  My interpretation was developed through watching others either from a distance or on T.V.  I am so grateful that the Lord is replacing my wrong interpretation with revelations about how His love is intertwined in every aspect of life.

Giving

Recently the Lord has been revealing Himself to me through a process of teaching me how to teach my children the deeper values surrounding giving and receiving gifts.

Giving in the Flesh Revealed:  As I think back over my life, I remember times of giving gifts with the idea that I wanted the receiver to enjoy what they received, but there more to that motivation, there was an added level of self-centeredness in the process of picking out a gift.  Would the receiver like the gift “I” gave them?  Did it seem like “I” spent enough money or took the cheap route (always being on a budget)?  Did the gift “I” was giving them seem creative or just right?  Is “my” presentation of the gift pretty enough?  Does the card “I” picked out impart the right impression?  Did “I” write the right thing in the card.   I remember a time when what to write in the card could sometimes be burdensome, particularly when giving group gifts, wondering if other people would read what “I” wrote and think it was dumb or lacking.  Oh, how focused on myself I have been.

When I began to be ministered to through the Lifestyle of Learning™ ministry, I remember hearing about the value of giving meaningful gifts that included meaningful and sentimental messages written on the cards.  I had never heard anyone in church ministry talk about this before.  I thought it was a wonderful idea, it was something I wanted to do and at a deeper level I knew it was beyond me to be able to do as I could barely comprehend what it would look like in real life.  That was a few years ago.  I am grateful that the Lord knows the right season to bring new understanding, and am grateful for what He has been showing me in this area.

Giving reveals a Christ-like Love : 

Preparation

The Lord has been showing me that preparation is the beginning to gift giving.  God is the ultimate model of preparing.  The Old Testament shows us how He prepared to bring us the gift of Christ.  The New Testament tells us of how He is preparing a place for us in Heaven.  To prepare is to take necessary previous measures.  In order to take necessary previous measures to bless someone with a gift we would want to put thought into what we know about the receiver and what brings them joy, keeping our eyes on them rather than on our self.

Sacrifice:

Sacrifice is a needed element of giving gifts.  Sacrifice is the surrender made or occurred to oblige another.  We may sacrifice… or surrender our time, putting aside time with the specific purpose to prepare for the gift thoughtfully considering the receiver and what they enjoy, what would bless them.  We may then sacrifice money we have earned to buy a gift or supplies to make a gift.  Making a gift often requires sacrifice of both money for supplies and setting aside time to create the gift. 

When we make a gift there is often another ingredient that is added to the preparing and sacrifice of pouring out of our “heart” and praying for the receiver while we are creating the gift.  There really is a pouring out of love that accompanies a homemade, handmade gift.

We are not always able to make gifts, but it is something that I have been coming to see the real life value.  It has been becoming more important in my mind for my children and I to develop skills for the purpose of blessing others.  This is one, of many ways, we can teach our children to serve others.