MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2023 - CHRISTMAS GIVING

 MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2023 CHRISTMAS GIFTS

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas - Everywhere you go!!!

One week from today is Christmas Day 2023.  One week to the “big event” (Karen adds with some sarcasm - maybe even more significant than the Super Bowl!!!) 

I’ve been doing Christmas Shopping for a strange group of people lately.  I picked five tags off the Angel Tree at the Wesleyan Skilled Nursing Center (the Wesleyan Nursing Home). I have gotten to know some people, but the tags only had numbers.  For example, resident #10 would like a woman’s velvet sweater suit and a pajama set (large).  Resident #59 wanted pajamas and men’s undershirts.

I don’t give many Christmas presents anymore.  Divorced - I don’t have a spouse to buy for.  One of my children returned my check four years ago with the last written note I received - saying, “We don’t want this - give the money to a charity like Salvation Army” (I did).  I did send money to my other child.  

I started making crocheted “scrubbies” (with unique rough yarn for cleaning dishes).  My mother always made nylon net scrubbies - and I’m getting low on her supply.  I want to work up my skills on these to make them a thoughtful and helpful gift - any time of the year.  

I’m not very handy - but handmade Christmas presents say “I Love You” more than spending money at stores.  

I have given money to my three favorite charities - trusting that they will use it thoughtfully - and with more benefit than a homemade scrubby.  

I have written that LOVE can be spelled “T   I   M   E.”  I spent some time with my friend, who recently went on hospice and is slowing into a death spiral this last week.  And time with another lady in hospice and my special friend at the Wesleyan Nursing Home.  I’ll be spending Christmas with my neighbor who lost her dog this year.  I’ll be spending time over New Year’s week dogsitting for a single mother going on a vacation with her family.  

Okay - true confession.  I’ve been “frugal” (aka “cheap”).  I did give a sizable amount of my income to special charities and friends this year.  (Please excuse me - I don’t want this to be bragging - because there are a lot of places and lots of needs around me - and I barely scratch the surface.

Luke 21:1-4:  Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury as he looked up. He also saw a poor widow put in two tiny copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she put in all she had to live on out of poverty.”

Isaiah 61:1-5 “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

Am I proclaiming good news to the poor?  My friend Marek Bozek gave his five-minute sermon on this verse and described a scenario where one is invited to two Christmas parties - one at a fine home owned by a doctor or the second at a dirty trailer park. He says his basic thought would be to go to the doctor’s home, but God would prefer going to the trailer park.

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My friends in hospice and at the nursing home are “poor in spirit.”  They are facing death.  They need my TIME and LOVE - more than the company Christmas party (with great food and beverages.  

I have written about Micah 6:8 before -” He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

I’ve also written about being humbled by God.  (It isn’t always fun - but it is comforting to get over my ego).

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So, are you thinking of the poor this year - and not just for Christmas? Are you doing it with a willing spirit?

2 Corinthians 9:6 adds, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”    

We should dance and sign Hallelujah when we put some meaningful money in the Salvation Army kettle this year!!!

LOVE WINS
LOVE TRANSFORMS
KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, DECEMBER 18, 2023