Holidays
“Let’s Give them a Smile, Mommy” – The Gift We Can All Afford
by
Autumn J. Conley
As I bundled up my daughter for a cold evening of hopping in and out of the church van to carol at the local nursing homes, I began to wonder if it was really worth the misery. Here it was, the middle of December, and for all my scrambling around, I still hadn’t managed to get everything done. Every page of my planner was completely full of one thing or another, and I could think of much more practical ways to spend this Monday evening. Life as a single mom is hard enough – considering my full-time job, demanding housework, and daily motherhood requirements like returning the now-three-days-late cartoon videos and bandaging the occasional boo boo and reading the kindergarten progress reports. Then, you go and throw something like Christmas into the mix with its parties and gift exchanges and shopping lists and baking and school plays and choir concerts, and December becomes an unconquerable scheduling and financing monster. So, could I really spare this one Monday evening for Christmas caroling? Besides, why should I? I didn’t personally know any of the people we were visiting and I certainly cannot sing. But then, just like children tend to do, my daughter tapped my conscience ever-so-abruptly on its cold shoulder.
As I zipped up her favorite pink coat and tucked in her striped scarf and tied her toboggan straps around her chin, she said, “Let’s give them some smiles, Mommy.” Ouch. The scriptures remind us frequently that our own tongue can prove to be our enemy, and how true this is! Just days before, when I was trying to figure out the best way to explain to my daughter why she simply couldn’t buy fifty presents for every person she knows, I had said to her, “Honey, the best gift you can give anybody is a hug and a smile.” Why in the world did I go and tell her something like that! At the time, I had said it in desperation, but I had no idea she’d remember it long enough for it to come back and bite me now. In my heart, I was far from practicing what I was preaching. I was acting exactly the way so many Christian parents act, demanding one thing from my child and not demanding the same thing from myself. Ezekiel recognized this harsh reality well when he said, “My people…sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths, they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy…” (Ezekiel 33:31, NIV).
No matter who you are, the inevitable burden of Christmas wish lists and constant gift exchanges has a way of wreaking havoc on your bank account and sanity, but when you are trying to stretch a single secretary’s income to heat the house, keep the lights on, put gas in the car, and keep groceries in the fridge, the holidays can be downright frightening. So, the “hugs and smiles” routine helps ease the guilt of the empty checkbook and barren Christmas tree. But really, it is not simply a routine at all. It is a truth about giving that we all should be teaching to our kids while learning it for ourselves – that we should never become “weary in well doing.” From the widow’s mite to the story of the good Samaritan, God commands us to be kind and to give not only of our material possessions, but also of our time and of ourselves.
On this cold Monday night, my little girl reminded me of this important truth. As we walked down the halls and through the lobbies of the nursing homes and the residents were greeted with our singing and the unfearing smiles and embraces of my daughter and the other children in our group, I learned a great deal about Christmas. I learned that when you don’t have the resources to give from the mall, you can give something much more valuable that comes from the heart. This is a lesson we can all afford to learn and one we should all be teaching to our kids. Praise God that no matter what we have or don’t have, we can always give or share something – even if it is just a couple hours of our time or a few smiles and hugs to a lonely person on a cold December night.
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