God Knows Every Gift
by Liz Dierbeck
Giving doesn’t always seem easy. So often, the clang of the cash register becomes the heartbeat of our lives, and never more so than at Christmastime. What will we buy? How will we fight the crowds to get the best deal? How do we top last year’s performance? Will the recipients like what we chose, or secretly exchange everything?
God knows every gift. He sees through the trimmings and the trappings, to the heart of the matter: that we give at all, that we give what we can, that we give freely and frequently. And here’s some more good news: we can’t out-give God, and the more we try, the more we truly receive.
Holy Covenant is putting a stake in the ground during this season of Advent. Members, regular service-goers, first-timers, staff, and everybody in between–we are all invited to accept the gift/sacrifice of not giving STUFF at Christmas. Our gift will be to God, by giving differently: by our hands, and from our hearts.
When I take that one extra ounce of effort, when I smile at a stranger instead of looking away, if I donate $5 to an organization that builds wells in Africa instead of slurping it down with soy milk and vanilla syrup, when I “build” a container of soup mix that my grandmother can enjoy on a cold winter day…that means I’m giving what I can, when I can, wherever I can.
We’re in this spirit together, friends. This year, we’re paying it forward, in magnitude and gratitude…and we’re paying it back to Jesus, the greatest gift of all.
