Giving Pre$ents with $ome $ense!

Amu shared with me a hilarious incident. Though funny, it set me pondering and hence coming up with this article.

Just after all the guests had left Amu's Christmas party at her home, her little nephews and nieces urged her to open up all her presents. They were so eager that Amu finally relented.
"Ok, you can open up all, except for the one given by Choo Choo. After all, you can see what is inside through the lovely transparent wrapper," Amu instructed.

The children happily opened up the presents. There were bottles of perfumes, some handbags, talcum powder, etc. Suddenly, Amu's nephew, Amos, gave a loud shriek, "Yucks, what's this.? He threw an itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini into the air. !

"How can anyone give you such a present, Premar?" (Tamil for aunty), Amos asked indignantly.
The person must surely know Premar's size!

"So insulting!", added Claudia. "It's better if the person can just give some sweets. Surely she knows Premar is big sized." Claudia is the second youngest and also the quietest. She is seldom inclined to talk, but when she does talk, she certainly drives home a point.

Abigail, the eldest niece added. "How much weight must you lose Premar before you can get into the bikini?" "Throw it away," advocated Titus, the oldest nephew. "What a gift.!"

Good natured Amu tried to defend the giver of the bikini. "Maybe she received the gift from someone and wanted to recycle, or maybe she had intended for me to give to one of my nieces."

"Yucks, we don't want it, Premar. Who dares to wear the bikini?" the girls echoed.

Amu said it would have been great if the giver had warned her about the gift so that she would not have allowed her relatives to open up the gifts, and hence all the unfavourable comments could have been avoided.

To me, giving is not convenience. One has to take the trouble to decide what gift is appropriate. Giving is not the amount of the gift. God treasures the widow's mite. Giving is also not compulsion, or giving for the sake of giving. There is nothing wrong with "recyling" a gift, but it must be appropriately given so that the receipient can make good use of it.

Someone has said that giving is not giving if there is no sacrifice. The most touching story that we know about earthly giving, is the gift of the Magi. Both husband and wife sacrificed their most treasured possession in order to make the other person happy.

I guess the greatest gift of all is the salvation and love of God. This is probably what Christmas is all about - giving. So let us give happily and sacrificially for God loves a cheerful giver.