Growing up my parents had a rule about Christmas. We never got more that Jesus did. This meant 3 presents for each of us. We did get stocking stuffers but only three gifts. We also rotated who got the "big" gift that year. Each of us would get some big gift every 5 years. It never caused fighting, we stayed humble and as an adult it makes me appreciate presents differently. I can't imagine if I had ever gotten anything more than three presents at Christmas time it is just so foreign to me.
As you grow your gifts change with you. I went from a child who wanted a cabbage patch doll and barbies to an adult who puts gift cards and gas cards on the list. I am a very boring person to shop for I must admit as well as a hard person to shop. This much I know about myself. But I also know that then when a gift is something that has been thoughtfully and carefully planned out and executed it means more to me than any barbie doll or gift card.
So this year like every other year my mother had her gift for us. She had stayed up all night the night before working on it because it still needed some finishing touches. The reason I know she was up all night is because I was up most of the night with her. Not helping her, it's just harder sleeping in a bed that isn't your own. So after church and breakfast we sat down for presents. I must say it is the first time in as long as I can remember that most of use where not looking ten shades of nasty. Thankfully because of church that morning we where showered and ready for the day.
After we read through Luke 2 - sidenote this was a tradition my parents started from when we where young. We have to read through Luke 2 before any presents so not to forget the true meaning of Christmas. So after reading the chapter it was presents time. Then came our turn to open the present that was from mom. Out of the tissue paper came a book entitled My Life. Now let me say that there are very few things that make me cry. Usually it is out of frustration, exhaustion of a circumstance or pain. Even fewer things are so precious and momentous that they they bring me to tears. The few times I remember are getting a picture of me and my dad when I was a little girl for my high school graduation present, getting a Tiffany's bracelet for my 23rd birthday from a bunch of friends and this.
The book that I pulled out was a book of journal entries from my mother about her life. Stories of where she grew up, what her life was like before my father. What their dating life was like, what their wedding day was like and what our first few years were like. She included in it scripture that has brought her comfort, wisdom and encouragement through the years. She ended with a letter to each of us women about who we were, who we are and who she hopes that we will get to become.
In the moment I couldn't help but be taken back by this precious gift. You see when you loose a parent while you are still getting to know them it leaves questions. You don't know what they were like before you. You don't know how they lived or grew up. When you have a parent alive and get their life typed out for you. That's just something you hold close to the chest.
For me it means so much to be able to one day share this. Share this with a husband and with children. To build upon it and create a physically report of the legacy we leave behind. Now I know these are not things you can take with you to heaven but I must explain a gift like this really lies in the eye of the beholder.
One thing I have learned over the years is that you can't take people for grantide. You can't take life for grantide. There are no guarentee's so why not live life to the fullest. One thing I also tell people is if you have parents, family, friends that are still alive charish them! Scoop them up and love them hard and well because you don't know how long you have them for. They can be taken away from you as fast as they come into your life. Death changes you and your perspective on things. This is mine. So I have a blast while I can, I live life to the fullest that I know how and I love hard and I own my responsibilities. I fear God, I live to tranform into the image of Christ and to do His work in this temporal world as He has called me.
These are things that my mother and father taught me and that were taught to them. These are some of the things I hope to pass on to the next generation. This is a gift that includes part of the blood that flows in my vains. Part of the history that I come from.
God allowed me to have a mother who would take the time to do this. Who would recount portions of her life so that she can share them with her 7 children. The full extent of this gift I don't yet know, but what I do know is what I have already is priceless.
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