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Perhaps Christmas at your house was similar to mine, with variations according to culture, customs, and climate. We had roast beef; you might have had tamales. We sang with friends at the choir party; you might have sung with family at a karaoke place. I gave a little purple puffer coat (and little purple hat and mittens); you might have given a sunhat and flip-flops.
But do you notice another similarity between all our Christmases? We give. We give what we can to help make others’ Christmases brighter.
That “what we can” is important. We can feel trapped between expectations, whether our own or others’, and the hard reality that there are limits to our time, money, and energy. We mere human beings have only so much to give – but then again, we have so much to give!
Once we learn how to give from our overflow, not from our substance, we are able to give freely. We can freely, lovingly, graciously give abundant gifts of service and presence and delight and support. And that kind of giving feels really good, doesn’t it? It really does.
This message is excerpted from “Did you give everything you wanted for Christmas?” by Audrey Novak Riley from the December 29, 2019, blog of the Women of the ELCA.