Skip to main content

Gift-giving philosophy?

One of those topics that always seems to come up is the different ways we show love--the well-known love languages varying from words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch.

I'm still figuring myself out, but I think I tend to show my love through gifts and words of affirmation. I LOVE taking mental notes of things people mention in passing and giving it to them unexpectedly. Often times they're not even items that are very costly monetarily but just the mere fact that I am able to meet a need in the other person's life brings me much joy. With that said, if I wasn't inspired or didn't "pick up" on a need in a friend's life, I prefer to just not buy any gift at all and instead resort to a card of (hopefully) encouraging affirmations instead. Might seem a little odd, but I guess it just aligns with the practical side of me.

Apparently many people receive love in different ways than the way they SHOW love. Even though gift-giving is my most active(?) way of showing love, I definitely don't think I receive it the same way. Maybe it's just because I am very particular, but I much rather prefer a card full of affirmations or a couple hours of quality time than an object purchased and wrapped for my surprise. In fact, I think being pressured to open a gift in front of the gift-giver is one of the most uncomfortable situations to be in--I'm not very good at hiding my true feelings haha.


A few days ago I began saying my goodbyes to dear friends who were leaving town and moving on to other things in their lives. One of those was with someone vastLY different than myself, so extreme that we often referred to our relationship as one similar to Paul & Barnabas from the NT. We had so many personality differences and communication issues that for the first five months we were in the same LG, we compLETLY went over each others' heads. It is truly ONLY by GG that our relationship improved and thrived in the latter months, which is why I'm so thankful for our friendship. Sandy and I didn't get along because we clicked or had common interests, but God placed us in each others' lives so we would learn how to love.

I'll miss you Sandy because every time I saw you I was reminded of God's grace, and His power to redeem all failures and mistakes in my life. Thanks for leaving me with a visual reminder so that I will never forget these lessons and promises :)

Love, Paul(a)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And just when you least expect it..

Today I went down to the food court with another intern and as I opened my box of sushi, I hesitated. Feeling as if there were too many eyes on me (I only ate with one other person -_-), I questioned whether I should pray before my meal, in fear of social rejection. After I prayed, she asked me if I was a Christian, and I awkwardly responded that I was. Then she said, "Finally! What a relief to know that there are other Christians!" WHAT THE.. I couldn't believe it. Here I was, sitting with a co-worker that I had simply exchanged cordial greetings with, now talking about God haha. Even though I was scared and honestly did NOT want to pray, God used a habitual thing like that to open up opportunities for me to invite her to small group and share my faith. Crazy how He works when you least expect it.
5 comments
Read more

Delirious

delirious (adj): marked by uncontrollable excitement or emotion; ecstatic; filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy (1 peter 1:8); me I don't think I had a personal relationship with God until 2 weeks ago. There have been a lot of formative moments and experiences in the past 6 years of me considering the existence of a higher-being, 3 yrs of being a Christian, 1 year of living by faith, 6 months of serving on church leadership, 1 month of dire circumstances, each of which have been challenged and supported by specific instances in my life.* But it's only been 2 weeks of finding pure joy, satisfaction, and freedom in Christ (alone). Though it's been 6 years since I first stepped into a church building and 3 years since I accepted Christ, I was always afraid to admit that I didn't know what grace, freedom, repentance, or Jesus meant--in terms other than the ones I had heard or read--it was always a theory and never a reality in my own life. After years of doing chur...
5 comments
Read more

Lessons from the Big House Big Heart 10K

I ran a 10K yesterday at the Big House, right before HMCC's 15th year celebration--it was an INCREDIBLE run because I feel like God was speaking to me about my life as I was running. Here's what I mean: I was in awe and shock when I finished my 6.2 miles, because I have been extremely unfaithful with training leading up to the race. Despite my failure to be disciplined on a daily basis, I felt like I was given this supernatural strength to run til the finish and not give up. Because of that, I ran hard and ended up cutting about 20 minutes off of my time from June (crazy, I know). I think the 10 kilometers I ran yesterday greatly resembles my journey of following after Jesus. If you ask me about what has helped me to grow in my faith, I can give you a handful of HUGE commitments I've made in the past couple years--like participating in a summer missions project, serving in LIFEgroup ministry, or staying in Michigan post-graduation. But despite these sizeable deci...
3 comments
Read more