Gifts from the heart bring great joy in both giving and receiving.  I believe we do a decent job of gifting people at or below our perceived income.  It is the people who have incomes above us that I believe we have a difficult time knowing how to gift.  We worry if our gift is nice enough, expensive enough, or if it will be tossed aside by the receiver.  What I have found is that people at all economic levels appreciate gifts from the heart.  

I had a mentor who lived on an income that was much higher than I was accustomed to growing up.  I watched this mentor get excited about any size gift.  I watched her feel good and smile at anything she was given.  Now she may not have loved everything, but she genuinely appreciated the thought and was given an inner satisfaction that was beautiful. 

I remember staying at this mentor’s home for a summer as a student.  At the end of the summer, I wanted to give her and her husband something to show that I appreciated their generosity.  I purchased a sophisticated yet very reasonably priced travel bag for her husband.  I knew that they went to their boat every weekend and could always use an extra bag that was flexible and practical.  Thirty years later, her husband told me that he used that bag as his primary travel bag and he finally had to toss it out.  A gift from the heart at any cost (or no cost) is important to all walks of life.  Make it a priority to give gifts from the heart often!

I am very blessed and have received many gifts from the heart.  Each one is special in its own way.  This past weekend I received a video call from Italy.  My husband died when our twin girls were 15 months old.  The girls have never seen their aunt or cousins who live in Italy.  The video call was for my birthday, but more importantly, it was the first time my girls ever saw their father’s family. 

You would think that over the last 12 years, I would have thought to video conference.  We send cards, pictures, and calls, but I never thought of a live chat.  I video conference for work, so the fact that I never used video chat to give my girls the experience of seeing and hearing their family in Italy is unbelievable to me.    

What makes it very difficult is that I don’t speak Italian and their aunt doesn’t speak English.  I knew a few Italian words back in the day, but after 12 years our phone conversations have become a few quick sentences to hear each other’s voices and let each other know we are thinking of them.

It is amazing to me how a simple video chat was the best gift they could have given us.  My girls were able to experience a few moments with their family in Italy.  A priceless gift for the girls and me. 

I am not encouraging expensive or thoughtless gifts, I am encouraging gifts of appreciation…gifts from the heart.  Gifts where you take some time to think of what the other person would enjoy receiving.  I pray and ask for God’s direction in opening up my heart to find the appropriate gift.   Take the time to find the gift that would tell the person that you know what they like or what is important to them.  I am encouraging thoughtful, personalized, from-the-heart gifts that would brighten someone’s day.  Gifts from the heart can be as easy as flowers from your yard, homemade cookies, a note, a call, or even a visit. 

Often it is not the gift itself that is most treasured, but the feeling of being appreciated.   

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