Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above . . . James 1:17
Something extraordinary happened to me this week. A phone call from our local furniture and appliance store informed me that a “Secret Santa” had ordered a gift to be delivered when convenient! What? Me? Who would have done this? I was completely taken aback, never having experienced anything like it before! In disbelief, I struggled to make sense of it, and tried using the process of elimination to determine who this “Secret Santa” could be! But, there was no identifying the giver of this most generous gift, which had taken me off guard and left me stunned. Of course, I tried to coax it out of the proprietor of the store, who only repeated with a smile on his face, that he was “sworn to secrecy!” and that “somebody really likes you!’ Still, I needed to know who. I needed to be able to give back somehow, to let them know what this extraordinary gift meant to me - how much it is appreciated. Most unusual for me, I needed my Christmas Spirit lifted this year. The timing could not have been more perfect!
As I mulled over all of these events this week, and my reaction, a few things came to mind. There is something sweet about a secret; a special bond for the owner of that secret as well as for the recipient of their spiritual or material generosity. There is something sweet about carrying a secret within our hearts as we wait for the “right” time to release it to another, if and when there is a “right” time. I am reminded of Anne Frank, as she wrote in her diary of carrying a sweet secret in her heart- a private matter she chose not to share with the people she was in hiding with (The Diary of Anne Frank). And I remember thinking about her with each of my pregnancies, before we let the world in on our joy. But even more so, I am reminded of our Blessed Mother, who “treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19), for many, many reasons. . Also, I am reminded about what a blessing it is, when we have another to share our inmost thoughts with – where there are no secrets!
I find myself looking over my shoulder these days; more aware of my surroundings. I find myself looking more deeply into the eyes of family, friends and neighbors, looking for some sign of recognition, some glimmer of identification of “the Giver.” Maybe that’s what gifts are meant to do: make us stop and look not only at ourselves, and why in our own eyes we may be worthy of a gift, but more importantly to look at others, with a keener sense of appreciation of their presence to us. And woven through it all is the Ultimate Gift we have been given, by a giver that is no secret; a gift given by God to us simply because of love, just because we are who we are, and nothing more. And that is why we “pay it forward.”
For the sweet surprise of the many gifts in our lives, we thank you, Lord! Abba! Father! We are yours!
Copyright© 2014 Kathleen A. Matson