Connecting Point: The Gift That Keeps Giving

The holiday season is in full swing, and retailers are tempting consumers with Christmas specials. I swear, the more I’ve aged, the margin for advertising has broadened wider and wider. Will we see

Christmas in July at some point?

Now I’m not opposed to celebrating holidays all year round; in fact, I suggest that celebrating Christ-like virtues personally in our lives is for all 365 days in the year. A little less consumerism might be nice. So in the spirit of Christmas, another virtue worth discussing, is being gift-full, and yes, it’s a word. According to Wiktionary, giftfulness is characterized by giving or generosity. The polar opposite would include restraintful (okay, so giftfull hasn’t found its way into Merriam Websters, yet). I’m kind of making this word up, but you get my point. Someone who is self-absorbed is far from being generous. If you were to choose, which would you choose?

Giftfulness or restrain?

As I study the Bible, I’m confident that being giftful is something God desires of us to implement in our life. We are created to use wholesome gifts to build others up. Paul emphasized: “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine,” Romans 1:11-12. The great power, in all ways, we tandemly inspire and encourage others, everyone benefits. Gift-fullness.

Restrained or restricted conveys the idea of

confinement, withholding, or being limited. A person who chooses to live life in this fashion misses out on some of life’s greatest joy. Most are familiar with Charles Dickens’s novel A Christmas Story, written in 1843, where he introduced the world to dear, old, Ebenezer Scrooge. Countless renditions of the novel have illuminated stages and screens since its

inception.

The truth is, an Ebenezer lives inside each of us. We can take everything that God has blessed us with and yet be self-centered. How tragic. Scrooge said “If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!” Inspired literature.

Scrooge has a change of heart, the calling card of a learning person. “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” So, here’s to

Christmas, may it be upon us.