Gifts are sometimes not thought out before they are given. A
report this past week said that Mother's Day gifts are much harder to find (or
purchase) than Father's Day gifts. Harder, in the fact that they take more
thought to find an appropriate gift. Another survey said that most people spend
between $40 and $100 on Mother's Day gifts, whereas Father's Day gifts are
typically between $15 and $25.
Understand I'm not complaining in any way shape or form, I'm
just trying to make the point that it's sometimes hard to find the perfect
gift. I'm reminded of a gift box we one time received while working as
Missionaries in Kenya, East Africa. Some good friends wanted to do something
special for us and fixed us up a special box. They wrote us about it and kept
check with us to see if we had received it, but wouldn't say what it was. It
took over 6 months for the box to arrive (you never know if you will actually
receive a box from America
or not, but we did.)
When the box arrived, I commented that it looked like an
elephant has stepped on it. With great anticipation we opened the box and found
a gallon can of Tapioca pudding (one of my favorites) and a bag of Mikesell's
Potato Chips (crisps) from our home state in Ohio (one of my wife's favorites)
and a couple of bags of chocolate.
Can you imagine a box, six months in transit with a gallon
can of Tapioca and a plastic bag of potato chips and chocolate (which had set
in the hot sun in a shipping container in the docks in Africa looked like when
we opened it? Actually the can made it through pretty well with only some minor
rust, the potato chips were now potato dust and crumbs and the chocolate was
large lumps (rolled in potato chip dust).
Do you want to guess our reaction? We were thrilled to get a
box from home. We enjoyed the stale potato chip crumbs and used some of them in
cooking, we ate the chocolate anyway and opened the can and ate the Tapioca
pudding. We rejoiced that these dear friends had remembered us in the far away
foreign land and had sent their love in the form of a battered box.
All of this is to say, with gifts, it really is the thought
that counts! Love is shared, not in things, not from spending money, but in
remembering to let the one you love know that you love them!
Mother's, we children and husbands sometimes stumble on that
point, but know that you are loved and appreciated for all you were and are in
our lives!
Some of the foundation principals in relationships is found
in 1 Corinthians 13:7, where we
read: "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures
through every circumstance". (NLT)
