We all love to get good gifts, but how many of us are good at giving really good thoughtful gifts. I’ll admit, I struggle.
And even when I manage to think of something absolutely prefect to give, most of the time it is outside of my budget, or there are time constraints that make it just not possible to accomplish.
But I got a reminder this past Saturday that there are some gifts that are precious, perfect, always appreciated, and free.
I had to go to a funeral on Saturday, (bear with me here. it will all make sense in a minute, I promise. just keep reading….) and I needed to take Ginny with me. Martin had commitments that could not involve a four year old, so she had to come with me. I knew it wasn’t going to be any fun for her, but she can be pretty good about sitting still so I knew it wasn’t going to hurt her to go.
The funeral was for a Sunday School teacher that I had when I was very young. She also did substitute teaching at the Christian school I went to and her son was a young man I looked up too alot. In a “6th graders distant crush on a rugged senior soccer player” kind of way.
The church where the funeral was held is the same church I grew up in and my mother worked in. First Alliance Church in Atlanta. While my mom worked, my brother and I used to play all over the church. We would do commando crawl races under the pews. We played hide and seek and tag everywhere (and I do mean EVERYWHERE, even the baptismal). We even got in trouble once for eating up all the communion crackers. We thought they were just crumbled up saltines. During services my mom sat close to the front row. She had a real talent for disciplining us silently and unobtrusively. I remember that quite clearly, but I can also recall times when I would get sleepy and put my head in her lap. Mother would do what all mothers do…trace letters or just random patterns on my back and run her fingers through my hair as I drifted.
okay, so you get the picture. My mother and I were heading into a building that we hadn’t been in since 1987. To attend the funeral of this dear lady, and to see people we hadn’t seen in forever. Bringing my child along just made sense. She can be a conversation piece. A distraction if this whole experience gets too intense or awkward.
Besides, she has this adorable smocked dress. It’s black with tiny white snowmen up around the collar. With her fair coloring and those big blue eyes……how could I resist the opportunity to show her off?
Stay with me…there is a point.
So we are all in the car. Me, my mom and Ginny.
And Ginny, naturally asks “Where are we going and why am I all dressed up?”
pause.
me: “okay Ginny, when mama was a little girl she had a sunday school teacher she loved very much. That sweet lady had a good life. She had grandkids and was very happy, but now she is gone to heaven to be with Jesus and her family is very sad. We are going to go give her family hugs”
Ginny “okay”
Then she goes back to playing with her stuffed toy in the back seat and my mom and I embark on a discussion of old times at First Alliance Church.
We get to the church, walk in and wow….. it is different, and the same all at once. There were people we know and people we used to know and people we don’t know at all. The service was beautiful and the music really got Ginny’s attention. It was a long service though and by the end of it I was whispering to Ginny all about the special treat (high tea with mama and grammy) that she would get if she could just sit still for a little while longer. Eventually the service was over and we filed quietly out into the vestibule.
At which point, my child enthusiastically reaches for all these complete strangers and starts handing out hugs.
Some people she grabbed around the legs, some she pulled on their sleeve till they bent down or picked her up to see what she wanted, and once she reached out from my arms to hug the mother of a friend of mine from middle school. She literally attack-hugged the whole crowd….and it was like watching the sun come up to see the effect she had on that room.
It was so simple. She gave comfort. She gave smiles and hugs because they were needed. She didn’t know these people. But she blessed them right where they were.
Yes, my child is adorable, but that’s not the point.
The point for me is that so often when someone preaches on using our gifts they talk about time, money and talents. The talents they refer to seem to be the specialised sort. Like being able to sing, or preach, or organize or build things. To me, those things are nice but what I think gets overlooked are the little gifts.
- a note (but of course to write an encouraging note you have to have at least some familiarity with the person)
- a hug (but most people, gregarious four-year-olds aside need to have some acquaintance with a person before hugging them)
- a smile. Smiles can be given to anyone, anywhere without knowing a single thing about the other person.
What? you don’t think a smile is a gift? When was the last time someone just beamed when you walked into a room? Remember how that made you feel? Well you can make other people feel just like that. I call that a gift.
I have a challenge for you.
Next time you walk along in the mall, or on your way to or from your car in a parking lot, try giving the gift of a smile to literally everyone whose eye you can catch. That way they don’t think you are just smiling to yourself. Make sure you catch their eye and then smile right at them. Make them feel like you smiled because they crossed your path.
Let me know how it goes. I’m betting you will be addicted to this form of gift giving in just one session.
oh, and one other blessing rained down on my head during that service….Ginny put her head in my lap and I got to play with her hair and trace letters on her back in that same sanctuary where I can clearly recall my mom doing the same to me.
stream of continuousness 