Day 60: Gifts
I don’t know which feels better: getting or giving a gift. What do you think? My mother recently returned from a trip to Jamaica. She thought of me and purchased a shirt (I am wearing it in the photo above). It made me really happy. When my father was living he travelled a lot as part of his job. He would always bring me t-shirts from the different places he visited. It made me feel part of what he was doing. And even now that he is gone I still remember this act of giving and it makes me smile, confident that my father loved me.
On the other hand, I have so many memories of the joy of giving. Often in recent years that gift has been the gift of song. I have a good friend who is from Korea. A few years ago I wrote a musical inspired by my time in Korea and presented it at The Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington DC. I invited him to attend because he loves music (He is the founder of a Korean choir that performs on many prestigious occasions) and I thought he would enjoy a musical that seeks to share Korean culture.
I wasn’t prepared for how much he loved the experience. He ended up writing an editorial about it and how it moved him deeply.
While I may have thought of composing a musical as a gift to my community I didn’t realize it could have such a powerful effect. Successful marketing expert, author, teacher and businessman Seth Godin talks about how giving a gift creates an imbalance. If we exchange a product for money we are even. But the giving of a gift creates a shift that warrants a response. That response might be strong words of gratitude or tears. It maybe another gift. One time my glasses broke and my good friend who had come to my musical fixed them for free. I now was the one overwhelmed by his gift of generosity.
Jesus spoke of the power of giving without hope of recognition.
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:1-4
Jesus said that when we give a gift in secret we will receive a reward from our Father in Heaven. I want to be rewarded by gifts from my Father in Heaven. I want Him to be pleased with me. I want his favor.
When we live a life of service to others, not looking for recognition from man, but looking to make our Heavenly Father proud we receive a sense of joy and peace. This may be what we have been missing that has kept us from feeling our best.
Today I will focus on giving gifts in the way that pleases my Father.
