presents or presence

So this is about 6 months late or early, depending on your perspective. But this is a constant battle or conversation I enjoy having, one that has only elevated since our two boys are growing up so fast and now the eldest is involved in recreational activities. From the onset of our marriage, I wanted my wife to know that, from my perspective, while being generous by giving gifts is an awesome expression of love, it in no means should triumph over spending time with people.

But as many times as I hammer that point home, the nail doesn’t tend to enter the board. What I mean is, we attempt, or I attempt to encourage our family and friends to not overwhelm our kids with gifts, rather to overwhelm them by spending time with them.

We live in a culture that says buying gifts or spending money is the greatest sacrifice, the greatest way to demonstrate one’s love. And while I agree, it’s an expression of love; often in our culture, it ends up being the last resort, or the way to do something without doing something meaningful. For example – it’s graduation season, how many times have you (we have done it countless times) grab a card literally on the way to the party or whatnot. Yes, you showed some act of love but did it w/out much significance or meaning.

But I digress, I think. The point to this blog, I hope is to encourage people to spend time with people, find meaningful ways to demonstrate love. Don’t just buy someone a gift thinking that covers it. Back to my children, sure they love toys, but above all, they love spending time with family & friends. When I think of Jesus’ sacrifice, we know he came to give the ultimate gift and he’s the ultimate present-giver, but above all, Jesus came to be with us – Emmanuel. Let me repeat that – He came to be with us.

Therefore – Jesus was the ultimate presence-giver.

Meaningful time is a beautiful expression of love; moreso than something you can buy at wal-mart.