Tag Archives: Giving at Christmas

It Really is the Thought that Counts

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by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…) Books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble; www.patlambchristianauthor,com

Train up a child…

It Really is the Thought that Counts

         A lot of joking takes place at Christmas and birthdays when gifts don’t seem to match up with the recipients.  There are those who think that if you spend a lot of money, the gift should be appreciated. Some folks like handmade gifts; others think it is a sign that the giver has more time than money.  Some people fret and fret and still cannot come up with a gift that they feel comfortable in giving to someone. Then, thankfully, there are those who just seem to have a knack for gift-giving and always seem to come up with just the perfect gift.  

         I wonder if the secret to knowing the perfect gift for someone is knowing someone perfectly well.  The better we know someone, the better we know their likes and dislikes.  When we wait until the last minute and feel that we simply must find a gift, usually neither the giver nor the recipient enjoys the choice. In fact, there are those wonderful, efficient people who are alert to appropriate Christmas gifts all year long, picking up things they know someone would like when they happen to see them or making things ahead of time for those they love.

         I’m glad there are still those folks who enjoy handmade gifts.  They are getting scarce as time to make them becomes more and more limited.  I’ve always felt that someone must care for another very much to go to all the trouble to make something. Counted cross stitch, embroidery work, handmade pieces of furniture, crocheted or knitted work, and other handmade items are really priceless.  

         In the movie, “Christmas in Canaan”, on the Hallmark channel a unique idea was given.  I had never heard the idea that was presented there.  The father wrapped up pictures from catalogs of items he wished he had money to buy for the family members.  In the story plot, the crops had been bad and money was scarce.  The family remembered that special Christmas in the years to come and treasured the love shown by a father who truly wished he could do more.  The story was another reminder that Christmas is love, not things.

         It is so very noble when people ask that gifts not be given to them, but rather the money for those gifts be used to meet the needs of others. There are needy families who can really use some help.  On the other hand, there are those folks who have so much that it is hard to think of anything they don’t already have to give to them.  It is amusing to look through some catalogs and see some of the unusual creations that are there to lure people to spend money.  

         When we give to others from the heart, it is like giving to Jesus.  After all, it really is his birthday, not ours.  We need to teach our children to give from the heart by setting the right example for them.  Children need to understand that we give to others to show our love for them.  Emphasis needs to be put on what would make the other person happy.  We can help children avoid selfishness when we teach them that gifts should be given with a great deal of thought and love.  

Giving Should be from the Heart

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by Pat Lamb (Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book; Love is…) Books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or www.patlambchristianauthor.com.

Train up a child

Giving Should be from the Heart

         When my husband and I worked on the Navajo reservation several years ago, at one time we had a principal of our school who was one of the last survivors of the Mandan Indian tribe.  On one occasion, his cousin came to visit him and gave him an air-conditioning unit for his car.  Mr. Bearghost, our principal, in turn gave his cousin his favorite rifle.  He explained to us that the custom of the Mandan tribe had always been to give as a gift to someone else the thing that meant the most to self.  In keeping with this custom, when a man went deer hunting, the first deer killed was to be given away to someone else.  The hunter could keep only the second deer killed.

         “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” is a difficult lesson to teach children.  It is something we adults often forget ourselves.  However, it really is true.  Some of the best memories of Christmas are those of pleasing someone else with a gift.  

         True love means giving up the wants and wishes of self for the benefit of others.  The purpose of giving gifts at Christmas is to show love for others. It follows then, that to truly show love for others, we need to sacrifice the wants of self.

         We should not go in debt to give gifts.  By doing so, we are not really giving the gift, but the gift is being given by the one providing the money.  A gift should come from our own means. When we give money to children to buy gifts, it is really the person who gave the money who is buying the gift.  Children should examine their own means and abilities to see what they can give.  

         One of the best gifts that can be given is time.  How wonderful it is when our grown children now come to visit my husband and me and they look around the house to see what needs to be done that is difficult for us to do.  Every time they visit and leave, they have left the place in better shape than when they came.  Small children, too, can learn that obeying and helping with chores can be a good gift for parents and others.

         At a missions conference I attended, we were told that people in another country were praying for America because we had become too materialistic.  Christmas is a time when we have a special opportunity to choose whether to put emphasis on materialism or to teach children that material things are not lasting and that there are more important things in life.  At the current time, as we look at pictures on TV of homes burned in California and other places, we see a visual lesson of how material things do not last.  In recent years and months, we have seen over and over belongings of people destroyed in floods, hurricanes, fires, ice storms, earthquakes, or tornados.  These happenings should serve as a reminder to us that there are more important things in life than material possessions.

         This Christmas season may we truly put emphasis on love of family and others instead of just accumulating “things”.

Children Need to Give

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by Pat Lamb Author of: Let the Children Come; Children, Come to Me; When the Stars Fall Down; Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way; My Thinking Book

Train up a child…

Children Need to Give

       At Christmas time each year, thoughts turn to what we can give children to make them happy and excited.  The emphasis is often simply on what toys or other things we can give children. Actually, one of the best things we can give a child is the understanding of the joy of giving itself. Children are often only recipients of gifts, but they need to learn that it is more blessed to give than to receive; otherwise, they will grow up selfishly thinking only of self pleasure.

         I learned the lesson of letting someone give, no matter how meager their means, when we lived on the Navajo reservation.  Just as we often think that children can’t give, many of us often think that grownups of meager means can’t give.  We forget the value of giving.  

Several years ago, when our two older boys were small, we worked with the Navajo Indian people.  On one occasion, we were in Gallup, NM, when a Navajo gentleman from Ramah, NM, saw us and asked us for a ride back to Ramah.  We gladly told him we would give him a ride.  As we went down the road, he said, “Lamb, stop. Get pop.”  In his broken English he was telling us to stop and buy him some soda.  My husband, Keith, said, “You buying, McDaniel??”  I was shocked!  To think that my husband would expect this poor Indian man to buy pop for us!  McDaniel was taken by surprise as well.  He grinned and kind of chuckled under his breath, and finally said, “OK”.  My husband pulled up to the trading post, McDaniel got out and went inside.  When he returned, he had soda for Keith, himself, and me and had even bought ice cream bars for our boys!  He had a big broad grin on his face of complete satisfaction!  He had bought something for those “rich” white people.  I almost choked as I drank the pop, but realized as we drove on down the road what a wonderful thing had happened.  McDaniel had changed from a dependent person to making us dependent on him.  He had found real worth and felt real pleasure in being able to give to someone else.

         It is the same way with children.  As long as they are unable to give, they have less self worth.  When children can give, they feel a real sense of accomplishment and worth in making someone else happy. There is no feeling that compares.

         Children do not have to give big, expensive gifts, but the gifts do need to be from them personally.  It is not the same for parents to give money to children to buy gifts, for then the gifts are actually from the parents.  The gifts should be something that the child has an active part in.  There are many things that children can make.  Some of them take a little help from parents, but the rewards are worth the effort.  For my birthday, I received a handmade card from our grandson.  As his mom was getting it ready to mail, he said, “Wait!”  He ran and got a quarter, a dime, and some pennies.  “I want to send these to Nana”, he said.  When I received the card, there was a little baggie stapled to the top with the change in it.  He was giving me all he had at the moment because he loved me.  I still have it in a plastic bag and will probably keep it for a long time.

         The Bible says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”. (Acts 20:35)  The best way to teach this fact is to help children experience the real joy of giving. Doing so proves the point!