WORDS ARE A GIFT

We are approaching a very hectic season with Christmas trees and houses to decorate, food to prepare, and gifts to purchase. Each and every year, we find ourselves contemplating what to buy for those we love. If you are like my family, we have very few needs, so everyone’s list is more focused on their wants rather than an actual need.

As I get older, my need and my want list have greatly decreased. Things and stuff do not hold the value for me that they once did. I have more sweaters than I can wear in a winter season and more coats than the southern temperatures require me to wear.

What has become valuable to me are things like time with my family, coffee with a friend, witnessing a beautiful sunset, observing the playfulness of the cardinals in the tree outside my office window, watching movies with grandkids, a written note, sitting by a warm fire with someone I love, and serving others. I guess you could say that my need for time and words has replaced my need for things and stuff. I no longer desire more things, but I desire time and conversation with those I love and care about.

We are living in a day and time of overloaded calendars and schedules and activities that revolve around meeting one’s personal needs rather than the needs of those around us. We fail to see that the giving of our time to others and their time given to us is a true gift. Our time is valuable, therefore when we are willing to give it to another, it is a gift.

Words are a gift! Perhaps you have never thought of time and words as a gift because you cannot place them in a beautifully wrapped box with a bow on top, but they are precious gifts that we can give to others. One of the greatest gifts my late husband, Mark, left to me were his journals. Each and every morning since 1984, when he gave his life to Christ, he rose early to read God’s Word and pray. Daily he would record the truths God had revealed to him and the names of those he was praying for at the time.

In 2009, due to his medical condition, he could no longer write legibly, so his journaling stopped, but his time with the Lord did not. He remained faithful to be in the God’s Word and to pray for others. The words he penned in each one of his journals have brought me great joy in the years since his passing; they have been a gift to me!

The most obvious lesson in Christ’s teaching is that there is no happiness in having or getting anything, but only in giving.

Henry Drummond

Perhaps this year instead of placing your gifts inside a beautifully wrapped box, you might choose to give the gift of time and written words to those you love. The value of your time and words will last a lifetime and far outweigh the monetary value of any purchased gift. 

The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.

Corrie ten Boom