Some of the Best Gifts

Did you ever think about the great gifts you've received in your life?  I know, I know.  It's better to give than to receive.  But, it's also a good and wonderful thing to accept gifts graciously, and sometimes with much excitement.  Such was the case nearly 48 years ago when my Uncle Art gave me the greatest thing a child could receive on her 4th birthday -- a shiny, new, red bicycle.  Within days, those training wheels came off and I was speeding along the neighborhood streets with the big kids.  I was gaining a degree of independence and growing up.  I was a happy gift recipient, and my uncle was pleased at my reaction to the gift he'd given me simply because he loved me.



Note the very satisfied smile.  Uncle Art, the gift giver, sits in the background with my childhood playmate, Debbie, who had just attended my mid-summer birthday party.



Fast forward to the new millenium, about 40 years later, and much the same story unrolled in a far-off land south of the equator and thousands of miles from here.  By this time, I had a beautiful little Colombian girl named Monica in my Compassion family and, on the occasion of her 10th Christmas, I bought her a terrific, new bike.  Until that point, we exchanged fond words through our letters, but after that point, I received more expressions of love than I think I'd ever heard in my entire life up until then.  She wasn't just enamored by the thing she'd received, though that was plenty good.  She understood, even at that young age, that God blessed her by bringing someone into her life from a very distant place who simply loved her, even though we'd never met in person.  Her bike wasn't just a bike...it was love itself. She felt it and she knew it.



Enoche and his father on the day we met in person.



Monica also had an international little brother through my Compassion family.  He lives in Haiti and, like her, was being raised in a family with love but little else.  Usually, he would receive an animal to raise with Christmas gifts I sent him.  One year it would be a goat, another a donkey, and still another it might be chickens.  I met Enoche and his father when he was just nine years old, and learned more about their country, living conditions there, and a degree of poverty most of us don't fully comprehend in America.  So, when he was reaching his early teens, I was heartened to see an expression of love from a father to his son that amazes me even to this day.  When he received the money I'd sent for Christmas gifts for him and his family, instead of purchasing livestock, clothing or other supplies that were surely much needed, Enoche's father opened a bank account in his name and deposited the money for him.  Like our father in heaven, he loved his son so much that he put aside his own needs to provide for his son's future in this selfless way.

Gifts given out of love are something to cherish.  Gifts received in this same spirit teach us about ourselves, our relationships, our world and, indeed, the giver of all good things in life.  Thanks be to God.

Long Term Love

Valentine’s Day means cupid, red roses and steamy romance to many people. To some, it means sending or receiving secret messages of love.  To me, it brings cause for reflection and a sense of gladness.

About 76 years ago, give or take a few months, two ten-year-olds became best friends.  One was a boy, small of stature.  The other, a young girl, daughter of the town’s preacher.  They shared walks to school and get togethers at each other’s homes.  The little fellow could be seen carrying his girl’s accordion home for her when the need arose, even though it practically dwarfed him in size.  Chivalry lived in those days.

Only a few years later, the girl moved away with her family and the two would not reunite until both had completed college and begun their careers, he in journalism and she in education.  It wasn’t a chance meeting, mind you.  Her father and his older brother conspired to bring them back together.  What had begun as puppy love would eventually become a lifelong, affirming relationship.

At age 26, they wed and began life together.  A family quickly ensued and the days, months and years passed rapidly.  As in every relationship, there was happiness and sadness, challenges and triumphs.  But through it all, their love endured.

Now, nearly 60 years later, these two people, my father and mother, continue to live out their marital vows, taken with great seriousness and determination.  As illness and infirmity have taken their toll, my mother accepts this phase of her life, and appreciates her husband for the great love he holds for her.  Daily, he lives up to his vow, “for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, from this day forward…”

I have great respect for these two important people in my life, and honor their love and commitment.  This is what Valentine’s Day is all about to me.