Gifts...
Celebrating the Intrinsic Blessings, Talents, and Grace We All Have to Give As the sights and sounds of the holiday season fill our homes, cars, and offices with the festive cheer of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, our minds often turn to gift lists and holiday spending. But beyond the material things we buy, what about the invaluable gifts we don't have to purchase? This heartwarming holiday reflection explores the intrinsic, God-given gifts we all possess—from talents in music, writing, and teaching to the essential mental health tools of balance, empathy, and compassion. As we check off our traditional shopping lists, this post reminds us to thank God for the divine gifts He placed within us, using them as good stewards of His grace to touch and alter the lives of those around us.
Are you as excited as we are in welcoming this holiday season? The look and sounds of Christmas are here, and my favorite Motown Christmas songs are playing in my home, car, office-wherever I am! I'm enjoying learning about Hanukkah from dear friends of the Jewish faith, and welcoming Kwanzaa too!
As I was clearing my Christmas list and anguishing about the amount of money I spent, I thought about gifts we don't have to buy. The gifts that can change the direction of a life and sometimes important history. You may not even know it's a gift. Some may look at these attributes as talent, preparation, opportunity and tenacity. That's true, but I count those as blessings, something like a perk along with the gifts. Something like a talent in music, and a gift of voice.
These are the intrinsic gifts God provided that we all have to offer and give whether we acknowledge it or not. Some of us are gifted in voice, others dance, writing, teaching, painting, and yes, even the psychological like; balance, calmness, empathy, compassion as well as sympathy. These are much needed mental health tools that can teach others to be grounded and mentally capable, emotionally healthy. Balance that helps us excel in our gifts.
So as we cross off the traditional gift list remember to thank God for the divine gifts we've been given too. I guarantee your work, deed or performance touched, if not changed someone's view or possibly even altered their life. God bless you.
S.K. Caraway, Director
thesonyakarolfoundation.org
1 Peter 4:10
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:
Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.