spirit of giving

The holiday season is a wonderful time for giving.  Gifts are placed under trees, cookies are exchanged, and stockings hung.  I was fortunate enough in recent weeks to have a few experiences happen to remind me of the true nature of giving surrounding this holiday that I want to share with you.

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I have a dear friend here who has got to be one of the most talented people I know.  Everywhere we go, she sees something (like a twig, broken basket, shoestring...) and says, "Wouldn't that make such a great {insert something you would NEVER think of but always wanted here}?!"  And then she makes it and it's the coolest and just beautifully made.  Well, this friend, decided it was high time for a Christmas craft day.  So she organized one.  Invitations, a lovely table of homemade snacks, and another table full of crafts and supplies greeted a handful of women who came.  Before we even started, my friend turned to all of us and said, "I just want to take a moment to thank Him who gave us the talents we are here to use and opportunity for us to gather and be friends."  She then showed us how to use the supplies she provided and suddenly we were all stenciling pros.  We shared stories with one another about our families and swapped decorating ideas for our homes away from home.  It wasn't until I was hurrying home to snag Mr. F for a meeting that I realized that my friend had not asked for any monetary compensation for the crafts she provided.  She just gave willingly and smiled joyfully because we were in her home.
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A few weeks ago, we had a regional conference for church. Visiting with us for it was the Frankfurt Temple president and his wife.  On Saturday afternoon we had a special leadership meeting, where Sister B spoke to a group of about twenty women, who I was lucky enough to be counted amongst.  Her lesson was very sweet, speaking lovingly of the worth of women.  Do you want to know what I remember the most from her class?  At the very end she gave each of us a little pearl packaged beautifully in a white bag.  The pearl referred to something in the lesson but what struck me what that a woman in Germany heard that Sister B was bringing us pearls and decided they needed to wrapped up nicely.  So this woman that I will probably never know, took of her own time and resources to send 40 finely packaged pearls to a group of women a few thousand miles away.  That woman's generosity means more to me than I can express.

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Due to the divided nature of the island, we have members of our church congregation who live on the northern side who are unable to cross the border.  Because of this, they are completely cut off from our religious observances.  Once a month, Mr. F and I try to go (but aren't always successful) with a handful of stalwart members of our church who are able to cross the border.  We bring with us dry food goods donated by members, notes, and our company for a few hours to let them know they are not alone while they attend university and are so far from home.

As we were preparing for a recent trip north, Mr. F and I were speaking with someone back in the States.  Knowing what the hardships of our friends in the TRNC must be, this individual offered us some money to help us purchase food to take across the border. That offer helped not only my husband and I, who have limited resources to purchase items, but also these friends of ours who will more than likely never meet their benefactors.

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Desperate to get packages mailed home so our family could open presents ON Christmas this year, I had been scouring the island for tissue paper.  Just enough to make sure the items in the boxes being mailed didn't jiggle.  Thing was, I couldn't find any.  Anywhere.  Try as might, no matter what store I went to, I could not for the life of me find tissue paper.  I brought this up to a group of expat friends here to see if they knew some secret location.  They did not.  In fact they said they had not found any either.  My hopes of getting these packages mailed swiftly and safely seemed to be dashed.

The next time I saw my one friend, she came with her personal supply of tissue paper and packaging material.  "This was all I could find at home," she said, "I hope it's enough!"

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All of these are very different, some effected me personally while others reached further.  And in each case, the giver had no idea how much they were offering.  To me, this is the true spirit of Christmas, to follow Christ's example and give freely, liberally, and joyfully.  I feel so blessed to have been touched by these experiences and am grateful that their examples have propelled me to do good.  As much as I love presents under the tree, I want to give more this year, whether it be gifts to others or of services I can offer.  And to do it joyfully.  This is my goal this year.

To help, I found this pdf of simple service ideas for every day in December.  I know we're already a few days in, but there's always time to give a little more, right?

Another fun thing I've loved doing in the past is writing letters to Santa.  Yup, you read right.  Letters to Santa.  Macy's gives one dollar to the Make a Wish Foundation for every letter dropped off in their in store mailboxes.  If you can't get to the store, try mailing letters to this guy via email.  He's spending his Christmas passing it forward after his dreams were answered with the Make a Wish Foundation.  This is a great, easy thing to do for a family night or group activity.

Whatever you do, I hope we all remember the loving, giving nature of this season.  It's not about the gifts under the tree, but the little babe laying in a manger.