When you care to give the very best!!

 The Gift of Giving, often misunderstood, often misused, and far too often misguided. The actual practice of giving, or what should be the practice, has lost its place in many societies today, and so today I want to help change that.  Today I want to bring you my take on giving.  I want to make a few suggestions, and it is my hope that you will walk away with a new vitality.  I hope you will see things a little differently, and in those subtle differences maybe make a small course correction from where you were headed.

We have different reasons for giving, but at the end of the day what matters most is the heart motive for giving.  I've been in so many situations that called for giving, and that is when the process begins, and just as importantly when the rational is used for each gift. Let me explain, and maybe you will see where I'm going with this. We give gifts for many reasons. Obviously the two biggest days of the year for gift giving is Christmas, and or course Birthdays.  We will spend hour on top of hour trying to figure out the prefect gift.  Countless hours of sleep are lost each year as you toss and turn trying to figure out what to get, how to present it, and hope against hope that your gut was telling the right thing to give. Seems to me that the stress one succumbs too in the process of selecting the perfect gift, in presenting the perfect give, somehow takes away from the joy of giving the perfect gift. Am I wrong? 

I can remember trying to figure out what to do about Christmas shopping.  Now in Christmas shopping it is critical that you match what is anticipated from other family members.  As if one has ESP and can come within two cents of what someone else spent, and now the hunt was on to find the right priced item that may or may not be exactly what you were thinking about getting, but since the parameters were changed midstream you had no choice but change your choice of gifts. Kind of takes away the intent of giving wouldn't you say?  I guess the question that arises from this scenario is this: are you giving because you truly want to, or are you giving because it is expected of you?  When I am expected to do something I can tell you it takes all the joy out of it, and when all the joy is removed from the equation, then more often than not so is the reward.  I'm never looking for a pat on the back or something given in return.  What I desire is knowing that I heard from God and that I followed through.  Keeping up with the Jones' is just not the game I wish to participate in when it comes too giving.  

Most everyone has been in the situation when you truly desired to give, but in that moment did not have the resources to do much of anything.  Let me ask this, and you don't have to answer but just think about it. Has anyone not gone to a party, after you said you would be there, because you were unable for whatever reason to get a gift for the occasion?  I've been there, and I've allowed my fear of what others would think to stop me from enjoying what I had been invited to participate in.  Sometimes gift giving takes on a whole new meaning based on ones financial standing or status, and often the true meaning gets lost based on the expectations of others round you, and your very own expectations.

For a moment let's forget about gifts in general and look at giving motives, or should I say giving prompters.  Why do we desire to give?  What are our own motivations?  Each person is different, and each time we give we are going to be challenged to stand on those things we believe, verses what others expect.  Quite frankly I am over having to meet someone else's expectation of my giving habits. If I choose to simply provide a card with words of encouragement and love for a particular event, should that be looked  down upon because it wasn't as splendid as the flashy new car sitting in the driveway?  Sadly we pretty much know the answer to that question, but that doesn't make it right.  We simply have to worry less about other's impressions of our actions, or their critique of our gift selection, and focus more on what we are being lead to do, and stick to that leading.

I love to give, working on the receiving portion of that equation, but love to give.  What I don't love is when I fall into the trap of having to fit in with the giving. What I don't like is having to do what others have set up as a standard.  Don't misunderstand, there are times when limits or parameters are required, but what I am talking about are the mental limits or parameters that others place on you.  When did the free process of giving, giving with love, giving with compassion, giving with thought, when did that all become legalistic and far less free?  When did giving stop being fun, and when did we become victims to our own giving?  Quite frankly I am tired of having to live up to someone else's expectations, and it's time we all just say enough is enough.  Here's my new baseline: I will do as I want, as I please, as I am directed to do by my Creator, and if anyone has an issue with that, you can take it up with God. How's that sound?  Think it may be time to put joy and happiness back into giving, and walk away from the whole expectation setting crowd?

I want to give because I love to give.  I may not always pick out the right gift, but it is my belief that if I base my choice on what I am being guided to do, then it will be the perfect gift.  Perfection for the moment, perfection for the person, and perfection for the situation.  I give with zero expectation of a return on my investment from the person I just gave to.  I give with zero expectation of how they will use the gift.  If you desire to regift it next year, hey, makes for less shopping for that pesky gift swap at the Office Christmas Party.  I don't give to get, I give because that is my nature, and that is what I truly love doing.  My desire to give is based on my love of self, and wanting others to know they are loved just as much.  My motivation for giving is to change a life.  My motivation for giving is love.  My motivation for giving is nothing more than accepting the joy of giving, and to be honest that is good enough for me. 

I can't and won't tell you how to give, or why to give.  What I will challenge you with is that you decide why you give, and just know the real reason.  We all will have different reasons, different motives, but when all is said and done, was God involved with your decision?  Big, small, new or used, matters not.  Any gift based on love will be the perfect gift, even if the recipient doesn't see it yet.  When one plants a seed it will come to full maturity at some point, and a gift given may take time to germinate, may take time to grown, but it will never come back void when you have followed your heart, and done what was in the perfection of your design. 

When you care to give the very best, give from your heart.  When you care to give the very best cover it in love.  When you care to give the very best then it doesn't matter what you give, what matters is you. When your desire is to give the very best, then I can assure you that will happen. Never give up on giving, and never doubt the significance of your willingness to give, that in and of it self will change the world.