Today is the first day of December! It’s the mark on the calendar that puts the thrill of receiving PRESENTS into us, and the chill of giving PRESENTS into us!

The second the calendar flips from November 30, to December 1, our minds are flooded with thoughts of what we will receive and what we will give! It is “The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” afterall, and PRESENTS are a big part of the reason why!

I would love to take a survey sometime and discover just how much time, let alone money, we spend on finding, selecting, and purchasing gifts for Christmas. We have already been bombarded with “Black Friday” deals that have gone from one day of the year to an entire month! Cyber Monday hits us on the Monday after Black Friday and the overload of what to buy and how much to “save” or spend on it has caused us to spiral into a frenzy of overload!

I am not suggesting that we not buy gifts, and I truly love receiving gifts as much or more than anyone. I love finding just the perfect gift for someone and I love getting it at a discounted price.  

The theme of PRESENTS comes to me from a much different place this year.

I have a really BIG birthday this week! For the past year I have not looked forward to celebrating it. Actually quite the opposite! I would have been very happy to just let it slip right on by with no acknowledgement or celebration and with no PRESENTS at all.

I am not being a martor, and If you think I am kidding or exaggerating, you do not know me!

I would have been very happy to go to bed on December 4, and wake up on December 6!

I am going to be bluntly honest with you, not that I am ever anything but, and tell you about my year! I did not find myself as overly concerned with COVID, Social Unrest, or the Presidential Election, as I did with turning 60! I have done almost everything this year to try and prepare for it…healthy eating plans, keeping up with exercise routines, taking care of my skin, taking care of my hair, reading more to keep my mind sharp, taking vitamins and supplements etc…etc…etc…

Now all of this is great and I believe God wants us to take care of the temples He gave us, but guess what all of this could not do? It could not stop me from turning 60!

My focus had to change and I had to do what was the most important thing of all to turn 60, put myself in God’s hands and realize that turning 60 is a PRESENT and a gift in and of itself!

Every day is a gift from God. Every year we have the opportunity to look at the next year, learn from what we went through and grow to be stronger and flourish more.  

As I came to this resolve in the month of November, God affirmed my choice and gifted me with the best PRESENTS that cost the givers no money at all! They could not be bought on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. They could not be found at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale or Macy’s Holiday Gift Guide!.

On my 60th Birthday, the most precious gifts I received were WORDS and TIME!

The TIME those I love and do life with, spent on me to write WORDS to me about me!

The morning of my Birthday Celebration I woke up to walls covered in exquisite snowflakes! One of my favorite things in the world is snow and snowflakes! Yes, I am one of those…A cold weather person! I cannot wait until the mornings turn frosty and cold, and you cannot step outside without mittens and scarves! I love walking in the frosty air where you can see your breath in front of you! I love bundling up in every kind of winter sweater and I am convinced that UGGS were created just for me! My favorite place to be is on a ski slope blanketed in pure white snow! And nothing brings a smile to my face faster than watching snowflakes fall gracefully and uniquely to the ground! 

I LOVE SNOW!

My LOVE Language is WORDS OF AFFIRMATION!  When I realized that each unique and beautifully hand cut snowflake hanging on my walls were covered with Words to me from those I love, I realized that I had received PRESENTS on my 60th Birthday that would become priceless treasures!

These are truly priceless PRESENTS that will never tarnish or fade. They will never go out of style, never break and need to be replaced. I will hold onto them for however many birthdays God gives me! They will stay in my heart and mind forever and I will remember them and hold them dear!

Proverbs 16:24

“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”

God taught me a lot on the Big Birthday of mine! He taught me to hold every day He gives me life as an opportunity to flourish and make a difference for Him! He taught me to take none of the days He gives me for granted or to wish them away! He taught me that aging gracefully is possible as long as I trust in and rely on Him to define beauty and worth and not the world around me! And more than anything else, He taught me that PRESENTS are to be given and received and the price does not determine their worth!

So, on this first day of December as we enter into the Christmas season when God gave the GREATEST PRESENT we will ever receive, His Son Jesus Christ, I want to give back to Him!

I want to give PRESENTS to Jesus on His Birthday, like the ones I received on my Birthday! I want to give Him my TIME and my WORDS!

I have decided to make an ADVENT CALENDAR of TIME and WORDS to my Savior this December. Spending time with Him each day and telling Him what He means to me, as I count down to His Birthday Celebration! I am going to write them on cards and number them 1 – 25. Each day of December I will hang them in my house as I offer up my PRESENTS of TIME and WORDS to the One who is my greatest PRESENT of ALL!

TRUTH BOMB

OUR TIME AND OUR WORDS CAN BE THE GREATEST PRESENTS WE GIVE!

My Blog posts for the next three weeks of December leading up to Christmas will be on this theme. Will you join me in GIVING PRESENTS TO JESUS THIS CHRISTMAS? 

It will cost us nothing but TIME AND WORDS, but it will be priceless and precious.

HAPPY DECEMBER EVERYONE!
LET’S GET GIVING!

Speak Truth Love