Giving (Student Post)
As a Christian, the Christmas season is a holy time when we celebrate the birth of our Lord. It is also a time when the world comes alive and is full of so many different wonderful things. As a kid, it can be one of the most exciting seasons. School is out and the streets are fully decked and covered with bright lights. Of course, for many, the most exciting part is the presents under the Christmas tree just waiting to be opened. School was out and the streets were fully decked out and covered with bright lights. However, at least for my family, I find that although we all love getting gifts and excitedly wait to open them, we actually much more enjoy giving gifts to each other. There’s nothing quite like the anticipation and excitement on the recipient’s face when they open your gift. But why is it that in many cases people feel so much more joy when they are giving something away, than when they receive it themselves?
When we give something to someone as a gift, especially a thoughtful gift, it shows that we care about them, that we thought about them. It shows that we put the time, energy, and effort into giving them something that they would enjoy. We give because we love seeing those we care about happy. And we can see this in the purest sense through God. As Psalm 149:4 says: “For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.” God takes joy when we have joy in him. It’s one of the gifts that he has given us. That we feel joy when we serve others.
My family recently went to Romania on a short mission trip to help the Ukrainian refugees. What we saw was amazing. The volunteers we worked along-side were giving their time, energy and money to serve complete strangers—people they had never met, many of whom were rather rude and, yet, the joy they felt was profound. But why? They could have done literally anything during their day, so why did they tirelessly come day in and day out to volunteer and help people who they probably would never see again? It’s because of the joy of giving. When we give something for no reason except that we care for them, we can’t help but feel joy. As Victor Hugo said in Les Miserables, “You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness.” When we love, we cannot help but give. Just like how God loved us so much that he gave us his only son. We feel so much joy from giving and the joy of giving lasts so much longer than the joy we get from getting.
The Christmas season has come and gone this year. But that doesn’t mean we should stop giving. While Christmas is considered the ‘time of giving’ it should not be the only time. This doesn’t mean that you should buy out a whole store to get a gift for everyone, but sometimes the best gifts are the small ones that come out of nowhere that say: Hey, I thought of you and got this. But there are many other ways that we can give. We can give through patience when things are difficult. We can give of our time, through volunteering. As a school community it’s a great time to give to our new building, to our teachers, and our friends but also to experience the gifts God has given to us this year. So many wonderful things have happened in 2023 and let’s open this new year with giving hearts. “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” (Acts 20:35). So let us fill our days with giving.
Post by Anonymous Summit Student, 10th Grade