40 Days 40 Gifts Day 9

Gift giving today was easy – in fact I’d been planning it for two months. I am blessed with a small circle of very good friends – girls I would trust with my life and who have been by my side through many life experiences and many parties. Abbi, Dawn and Kirst are my Charlie’s Angels (one is a redhead, one is a blonde and one is a brunette). Of the three Kirst has been by my side the longest – we met when we were four years old on a jungle gym at nursery school and she’s been stalking me ever since ;p.

It was Kirst’s birthday on the 31 December. The problem was I couldn’t find anything to give her that expressed who she is as a person and how much she means to me. So needless to say the birthday present was handed over two months late at the end of February. I did eventually figure out what to give her and in fact spent two months making part of it.

The difficulty I had in putting this gift got me to thinking… perhaps the hardest people to give gifts to are those closest to us. I’ve already reflected on how difficult it is to give to those we don’t know and truly letting go of what we give as a gift (see Day 5) but giving to those closest is even harder. I know I think for months on end about what to get my parents when birthdays come around, and what to get Beert is another story (his birthday is this month and I’m still clueless!). Gift giving is about expressing how much that person gives to us – how much that person enriches our lives. And it is often so difficult to express that in a gift or a word. Sometimes we just have to settle for saying thank you.

But how often do we do that? It shouldn’t’ wait until birthdays and Christmas, it shouldn’t wait until goodbyes. We need to live a more grateful life, one in which others know how grateful we are for their influence in it. Which is why I’m tagging four special people today – the Charlie’s Angels and Beert. Just to let you all know how special you make my life! Thank you.

LESSON 9: We don’t need things and money to be thoroughly blessed. We need to nurture relationships with those around us.

Love and joy are key fruits of the spirit and Jesus tells us that of all of these, love is the most important. But we struggle to express both joy and love. Each day should be a celebration (joy) of the love we have in our lives. Joy and love are central to the spiritual discipline of simplicity, otherwise it becomes a drag. As Foster writes, “without a joyful spirit of festivity the disciplines become dull, death-breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees. Every discipline should be characterised by carefree gaiety and a sense of thanksgiving.” I must admit I’d got to a point in the first couple of days where this giving thing was dragging me down – highlighting all of my inadequacies. Today it was about thanksgiving and celebration. I revelled in gift giving today and I revelled in how much I am blessed.