The Givingness of Christmas


 I sit here writing this blog with a latte in my hand. Those of you who know me well have just gasped as coffee is not a usual drink for me... and this one is not a single shot (my usual choice when I do drink coffee). It's a decaf! But this is not my latte. It's Stacey's. It even has her name on it. Let me tell you how I got Stacey's latte and how this relates to everything about Christmas.

Today I was supermarket shopping at my local mall and because I live close I had walked down. I bought some food for the week and supplies for our family Christmas dinner. Many people were leaving the supermarket at the same time and crossing the entrance to the supermarket in order to leave the mall. This left an older lady standing with her trolley, on the other side of this stream of people, waiting to enter the supermarket. Everyone was in a rush, it was raining, children had finished school and Christmas is coming. I saw. And I stopped. I indicated to the lady that she could go through and with a short masked nod to each other we carried on our way. 

Little more than 10 steps later I was about to exit the mall when a lady, her partner and child approached me and offered me a latte. I was a bit sceptical! They explained that they had just ordered from Starbucks but someone had got the order wrong so they now had an extra latte to give away. Now I'm not a usual coffee drinker but I won't say no to one going for free. I thanked her and her husband and we all went on our way. Now on my cold, rainy walk home I had a warm cup of coffee to hold on to. 

So what has this got to do with Christmas? I know, for some of you reading this, Christmas is a thing that you do where you buy presents, listen to carols, eat too much food and catch up with family members that you do or don't enjoy being with. It's a cultural thing that has been done for years. And that's all good, I hope it is merry and enjoyable.

For me Christmas is different. Take away the presents, the carols (although I do love them) and the food and Christmas is still Christmas for me. Because Christmas is about love and Christmas is about giving (not just the giving of presents). Over two thousand years ago God gave the very best and most loved thing He could have ever given, His Son as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem. Jesus came not to judge or condemn but to LOVE. And He showed that ultimate love by living as a confined human. And 33 years later dying on a cross, a hideous and degrading form of execution, for the mistakes that we all have made. But it was only through this incomprehendable act of love that we now have free access to a loving relationship with God.

So where does the latte come into it? Christmas is about love and giving. I know this year has been tough for all of us, and continues to be. It would be easy to sit and contemplate on our tough situation, trust me I get it. But let's be aware this Christmas of what we can give and how we can love. Money for me is mostly tied up in things for India at the moment, but I have a lot of time on my hands. I want to give my time to others in ways that are helpful and loving to them. And I love to cook. I want to have some people around to share food and time together. 

What do you have? Time, money, spare clothes, extra food, veges or fruit in the garden? It may even be just a free latte that hasn't cost you anything, or noticing someone waiting that you can let in. No matter how small it is the value of noticing, giving and loving have a ripple effect that can truly impact someone else's day. So be like Stacey, go and share the love and givingness of Christmas. xxx

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Became a Mum Adoption Update #9

Image
I have discovered recently that I struggle to write on the blog when things are hard. And lately things have been hard. I knew I needed to write another post months ago. I eventually started writing this one almost two weeks ago. It's time to finish it. Over this time there have also been some amazing highs amongst the lows so I recommend you prepare a relaxing beverage of choice as this is a long one. In my last adoption update I talked about having my first court hearing and the only thing changing being the date. Well, that happened a few times, 5 to be exact. Different reasons were given such as 'other matters being dealt with in court' and 'emergency holiday' (that was my favourite). Each time it was disheartening but then I would remember that we were still one court case closer to being approved. I managed to prepare the new document they asked for, got it printed at the local printer and set off to the notary to have it signed. While signing it he noticed th
Read more

Adoption Update #10 The Flights are Booked!

Image
The title of this blog really lets the secret out, but it's the journey there that is the real story. Near the end of last year I started looking at flights and accommodation as I prepared to travel to India, hoping to leave in early February. At the time there were several depending factors including booking a space in MIQ*, isolating for a week in India and working out who was going to travel with me. MIQ was an interesting dilemma as I had to work backwards and forwards at the same time as when you go into a MIQ lobby you aren't guaranteed the date that you want. At the time isolation in India was just for some high risk countries including New Zealand. In order to book MIQ I needed to know how long it would take to fly to and from India (at the time I was planning on flying to Mumbai), stay in a hotel for 7 days in isolation, get a test on day 8 and wait for the results, work out how to get from Mumbai to Akola (train-10 hours, plane and drive-6.5 hours or just drive-16 hou
Read more

Our Family Day

Image
In writing this particular blog post there will be details that I will be rather vague or brief about. The reason for this is that some of the experiences shared with my daughter are very personal to us and I want to respect that. On Monday 7th March we boarded our Indigo Air plane just before 5am. I was rather nervous about taking this flight. I had flown internationally often enough but I had never flown domestically in another country. A slightly smaller plane on an airline that I hadn't flown with before and already feeling a large degree of nerves with knowing I would meet my daughter face to face that day. It could have been a recipe for disaster (if you know anything about how I fly) but it was amazing. The service from the staff onboard was amazing. I couldn't fault them at all. My aunty and I sat next to a man who was on his way to Nagpur for business. He knew straight away that we were from New Zealand as he had lived in Melbourne for a few years, studying. We were sh
Read more