"Lovegiving"

A friend of mine just lost her elderly father. She and her husband have been caregivers for her parents for some time now, so I'm feeling a special sadness for them today. It reminds me of what the end of my own caregiving will feel like.

I don't know if grief is any easier after caregiving or not. Perhaps there's still guilt over whether your care was good enough. But then again, there's some comfort in knowing that you were there for them and did the best you could.

Friends and loved ones often refer to caregivers as saints. But we are actually no more saintly than any other Christian. As a matter of fact, the Bible indicates in many places that anyone who calls on the name of Jesus and is sanctified in Him is a saint. (I Corinthians 1:2) ) Caregiving doesn't make one a saint. It allows us to be one. It's the Christian, saintly thing to do.

It's an opportunity to give back the care and love that's been given to us. One might call it "lovegiving".

A Heavenly Tax Refund

My nephew filed his taxes today, with fine visions of the purchases he will make when that refund money rolls in. People complain about taxes; they even make jokes about them. But seldom do I hear anyone express thankfulness for what our taxes pay for. Surely there are things we wish the government didn't use our tax dollars for, but there are also plenty of services we should be grateful for, and be willing to contribute our share.

Jesus said in Matthew 22:21, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." As we use this time of year to "render to Caesar" through our taxes, let's not forget the second part of His comment. Let's make sure that God gets what belongs to Him as well. Have you given Him your life? The refund on that transaction is "heaven"ly.

Gift exchange?

Tonight we went to my husband's monthly support group for brain injury survivors. Of course, being December, we made it a social event, with potluck supper and a gift exchange. It was nice to just focus on having fun.

As I thought about having a gift exchange, it just didn't make sense that you would bring a gift and come home with a different gift that someone else had brought. Why not just keep the gift you brought in the first place? Chances were good that your gift was something you liked anyway. Seems kind of silly, when you think about it. But people seem to enjoy it anyway.

Wouldn't it be more Christian to give a gift to all the significant people in your life and not get anything in return? After all, Jesus gave the Gift of His life, so that we could live, and He doesn't expect anything in return. But then, I thought--wait a minute, maybe Jesus does expect something from us. He expects our whole hearts, all our love and trust. Of course, our gift could never match His, since the whole world has benefited from His death on the cross. But there is an exchange going on in this act of salvation. God receives a relationship with His children, in exchange for His mercy and grace.

So, I think I'll keep going to gift exchanges. It really is a "give and take" world, even when it comes to God.