GIVE

3 a: to put into the possession of another for his or her use b (1): to administer as a sacrament (2): to administer as a medicine c: to commit to another as a trust or responsibility and usually for an expressed reason

I've been thinking about what responsibilities we have to use the gifts we are given. In the passage I am studying this week in Philippians, there is a lengthy passage that amounts to an If/Then statement. My own summary of the passage to help me remember it was If Received, Then Give.

If you receive kindness, give it to someone else for his or her use. If someone overlooks your hasty tone of voice and gives you a smile, respond in kind. I've found this works in a negative way as well. This afternoon, B did not want to get dressed for soccer. While she loves sports, the only time she wears shorts or pants is when required. To say that she prefers skirts and skorts is an understatement. Today it was cold enough that she needed to not only wear the detested shorts, but two shirts as well to practice. As my tension escalated, so did hers. Soon, our emotions were high and our voices were raised. When I asked her to stop yelling at me, she asked me to stop yelling at her. While I wasn't actually yelling at that moment, she had a point. She had been giving me exactly what she received. What a poor example I set sometimes.

Yet the proverb tells us to train a child in the way she should go and when she is old, she will not depart from it. I once heard someone point out that this proverb does say she won't depart from it in high school - it says when she is OLD. So I'm hopeful that when I give my daughters kind words, a well-cooked meal, a hug when they come home from school (things that they each take for granted right now), that one day they will give these gifts - or others - to someone they know and love.

About this time last year, I was talking with A about our gifts and how she uses the gifts she has to bless other people. She and I talked about how great it would be if when she gets to heaven and God asks for her box of gifts, she's able to hand over an empty box because she's used up all of her gifts by pouring them out for other people. I hope that image stays with her like it has stayed with me.

I hope A is not the only one to arrive in heaven with her box of gifts empty. I hope I won't hoard my gifts out of fear of using them. I've spent some time this week contemplating my weaknesses. It's hard to assess them objectively, but it's perhaps even harder to assess my gifts objectively. So I'll just try for now to give back what I've received, starting with words.