Living Abundantly

Carter and his Opa last Christmas


""I came," Jesus said, "that they may have life, and have it abundantly." To live abundantly is to live generously..."

I think giving gifts is wonderful. It's so exciting to get gifts, of course - to see the wrapping paper or the bag and to try to guess what it is. For years my grandparents would give everyone socks at Christmas and it was always a joke as we felt our soft packages and pretended to guess what they were: "Um, I think it's a CD!" But the giving of a thoughtful gift, something the loved one really needs or wants, is even more rewarding. This year I had so much fun picking out gifts for all of our nieces and nephews and of course for our kids :) And I want to keep this spirit of generous giving all year, not just in terms of gifts, but in the way I live my life.

I think this is one of the most important things that my parents taught me by their example: how to live generously. They were so often giving of themselves to me and my siblings and to other people - giving of their time, their attention, their talents, their money, their home. I want to be that kind of person too. I want my kids to see me like that, and to become generous people themselves. That is why I think gift giving at Christmas time is so wonderful. What better way to celebrate the ultimate gift Jesus Christ gave us than to give gifts to others!