The Best Gift

It’s that time of year again when marketers vie to get our money. The commercials tell us that we want what we never thought we wanted and we want it now.

It’s easy to get caught in the commercialism of the holiday season - and that’s the downside. It’s not a competition. It’s not about believing that the more gifts we give and receive, the more love we have.

We are not celebrating gifts that are bought from a mall or the latest trend in clothes, toys or electronics.

At every opportunity we are really celebrating the love in our lives. Granted some people think that a way to celebrate that is to throw money at it, but it goes beyond that.

Love doesn’t come with batteries, a pretty red ribbon or a warranty. Love is in us and the best way to get more is to give more. What would we give if we had no money to buy anything? We would give ourselves in earnest.

Maybe there is a silver lining in this current economy? People can't afford to spend money like they did in the past. Now they have to rely on creative ways to give themselves.

Instead of giving presents, give presence. I have spent many years giving presence - being with people who need presence. Making sure that everyone I come in contact with feels my presence by acknowledging them.

Even if it is saying, “Hello.”

Sometimes I will ask them how their day is going. Even when speaking on the phone to customer service, just by asking about them, I can “hear” them smiling.

On one Christmas, I spent it visiting patients at a hospital, another year I spent it making chicken soup for a sick friend, but mainly I just give my presence wherever I can.

One year, I gave my special homemade chocolate chip cookies with walnuts. Mmmmmm. You may wonder why they are special? Well, I will let you in on a secret ingredient - love. That’s right - love. It’s what makes every cook worth his or her salt.

Before I put the cookies in the oven, I sprinkle them with love. We each have that ingredient already inside us. I just hold my hand over each batch and let the magic ingredient fall. That’s it.

My niece still thinks that I have a magic powder in my hand called love. When she looks at my hands, she says, “But there’s nothing there.”

And I, like the magician that I am say,”Of course there is. Everyone has love in their hands.”

Remember when giving love, you have it in your hands.

Happy Love Holidays. Celebrate life. Celebrate love. Celebrate peace. Celebrate the blessings that we have.

In celebrating what we have, please remember to spread love to everyone around you.

How will you spread love this season?