The Giving Gift
It was christmas and the city is filled with the festival mood, and people exchanging gifts and wishes. And our P'tit Laan also received many gifts from friends and his mom. P'tit laan cherished each of his gifts..holding it in his arms always and counted them several times in a day. On that evening he unwrapped all his gifts ( a flute, a fables, a toy bag and a video game! ) and loved each of it.
After which, Mom asked Laan « which one of the gift you wanted to donate to a poor child who has less than him ? »
Laan said « None »...
Mom explained Laan thatsharing with those who were less forunate was part of the holiday spirit and how a child who had less would probably be very happy to receive a gift. This made Laan a bit convincing, however he don't want to disappoint his mom on the festival day. The boy eventually agreed to part with one of his gifts...and decided to give off the Flute !
Laan asked his mom « where they would take this gift ? »
Mom replied that the Church Father would come and receive the gifts himself for the poor. But Laan had a doubt how he would know that the Flute goes to a child, to which his mom agreed that he would write a small note on the gift saying that « Make sure this reaches a poor kid who doesn't have lot of toys »
After the father left collecting his gift, Laan complained that he had forgotten to write his name and how would the boy know that the gift is from him !
Mom explained that they wouldn’t need to know who it came from and how sometimes part of giving was doing it so that others wouldn’t know where it came from, like putting coins in the poor box at church. Bot sure whether the kid understood every bit of what his mother told but he was happy and so the mother.
Years passed by..... and it has become an yearly ritual to give off one of the gifts he receives on the day of christmas. The giving gift tradition continued into adulthood.
One Christmas found Laan with his own 5 year old boy....
The boy asked Laan, “What was the best gift you got for Christmas when you were a kid ?” He wanted to explain to his son that the best gift he ever received didn’t come in a box, it wasn’t wrapped and you couldn’t even hold it in your hand.
He tried to explain the habit of giving-away gift is the best gift he had ever received.
The little boy asked "Do you still do that Dad ?" His father explained that he had not missed a Christmas in over 30 years. The following day the father selected a new sweater and wrote directly on the white box, “Please give this to someone who needs it”.
The little one became thoughtful after hearing this. As the church father arrived (with Santa) the father asked the boy to handover his father's gift the boy has already had prepared to give away one of gifts too...and he asked his father “Dad, can you help me write the note ?”
Material gifts can be precious but the greatest gifts that we can give to children aren’t wrapped in fancy paper and they can’t be purchased at the mall. The greatest gifts were meant to be passed on to others. The receivers of these gifts are often initially unaware of what they are actually receiving. The gifts of forgiveness, sharing, fairness, and caring are the most valuable gifts. These are the gifts that we can give away but still keep.
*** The End ***
