The Most Valuable $5 That I Never Received
“And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” Acts 20:35 NLT
“Myron, I will give you $5 if you can guess what I got you.” The words and challenge that would live in infamy for decades to come.
For years in those Crooked Creek Christmases, we would buy a gift for everyone else. So each of us would buy 10 gifts for the ten family members. I believe the gift limit was originally set at $2 per person, then upped to $5 as the years went by. It was awesome. I remember my mother taking me to places like Gold Circle, Ben Franklin and if in Mt. Vernon, Hyatt’s Five & Dime. Each store laden with treasures too marvelous to comprehend.
“He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles.” Job 5:9
The learning and incredible value in these gift limits and buying for all ages from 10 to 70 was in the thought. In the effort. In the anticipation. In the beauty of giving from limited resources to express one’s unlimited love. It is really quite remarkable as I recall those Christmas mornings so choked full of presents, that the only present I distinctly remember is the one given me by my Aunt Lorraine. My mom’s only surviving sister, who was in many ways a second mother to me.
We made the gift-giving fun by making the giving and receipt a production. The preparation of the gift included disguising the gift with large (or small) boxes, placing things like bricks, coins, things that rattle, etc., inside. Using wrapping paper and various types of tape that made the gifts difficult to breach, and on and on and on. We always took turns, either from oldest (person) to youngest or vice versa. I always dreaded the oldest to youngest because the wait was brutal for a young boy.
There were ten rounds of gift opening that always involved a bathroom break. Yep, head out to the outhouse or for the boys, one end of the porch. Usually involved gathering up the massive amounts of boxes and wrapping paper at halftime. Getting a drink, a snack or whatever was needed. How could anything be ‘needed’ while gift giving and opening was occurring? The agony of halftime! Almost too much to bear.
So the gifts were given and received. Miraculously as God always does, the love for one another grew exponentially. Those limited value, by the World’s standards, gifts became priceless. Valued because of the giver, because of the effort, because of the thought, because of the time expended. Valued because the giver loved the recipient and they switched places during the gift opening process where giver became receiver.
On that infamous Christmas morning around 1976, my aunt threw down the challenge whose value was equal to or greater than the value of the gift. $5 if I guessed the gift. $5! A fortune. So I held that gift. I shook it. I smelled it, as we were all prone to do. I lifted it high to see if light might shine through and reveal a key detail. I thought and then it hit me: ‘it’s a ball.’ My aunt’s face fell and revealed that I had solved the mystery. It was indeed a ball. Specifically, a football. And that’s where the great disagreement began. And it was great for decades to come.
My aunt refused the payment with laughter and love because I had not specifically identified a football. I harassed her for decades to come that she owed me $5 for the correct guess. And it struck me after several years that the $5 offered was worth infinitely more because of the joy, love and laughter that the giver represented in my life. She was a priceless gift from God to me, throughout my life until God called her home last year. I never received that $5 dollars, but received a lifetime of love and encouragement from my sweet aunt and those 10 people giving gifts each Christmas morning.
My prayer for you is that this Christmas you become acutely aware that your presence in someone’s life is worth exponentially more than the present you might hand them. That your life is a gift to those around you. That Jesus came to earth on Christmas morning because you were and are worth his life, his death and his resurrection. That Jesus looks at you, rubs the scars in his hands and comments to his father (God), “dad I would die for them all over again.” I pray that this Christmas $5 shows up in your life.
“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 ESV
It is truly more blessed to give than receive.
You’ve got this. Merry Christmas