Gifts

From our Motiv8ing Ideas Archive

Do all the good you can
By all the means you can
In all the ways you can
In all the places you can
To all the people you can
As long as ever you can.
(John Wesley)

During the season of the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, it is traditionally a time of giving. We sent greetings to family and friends around the world, and we exchange gifts with our closest relatives and work and social colleagues. It's quite easy, with the increasing commercialisation of Christmas, to become obsessed with material things.

And yet "gifts" are so much more than just material things.

"The weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly trivial, which is peculiar to him and which worthily used will be a gift also to his race"
(John Ruskin)

In addition to all our traditional festivities this Christmas, let's endeavour also to pass on to others the non-material gifts that we've been blessed with...gifts like a listening ear, time and attention, a word of encouragement, showing we care for someone, forgiving, or perhaps brokering peace between friends or relatives that have fallen out.