Take
Today it's about taking and giving. I don't know if you feel the same way, but this order sounds strange to me: Taking and giving.
Conversely, these words also exist as a well-known saying:
It's a give and take.
So first give and then perhaps take.
But let's take a closer look at taking. Taking is also somehow ambivalent. There is active, self-determined taking. Depending on the type, you might hesitate while others grab something, afford something, treat themselves to something: "I've earned that!" And that's fine, of course.
And then there is passive taking, e.g. receiving something as a gift. And some people have problems with that too. They say things like:
After all, nothing was given to me in life!
I've never been given anything and have worked for everything myself!
Or in short: I don't let anyone give me anything!
If someone does something good for me, then I owe them something, so I have to return the favour.
Some people take this to extremes when it comes to gifts and don't want to give a cheaper present than they received themselves.
Sometimes it's the same with children's birthday parties, where you try to keep the price of the gift roughly in line with what your own child has received before.
Can you accept something bigger without feeling uncomfortable? Or are you more on the trip that you don't really want to accept anything from others? You like to be generous, but you don't need anything from others.
Maybe that's just a special case or maybe it's a male thing, but I've experienced it a few times and sometimes I'm like that myself.
In my life, I have received many things just like that, in my childhood the love of my parents as a matter of course. I had a happy childhood here in Leichlingen, at the back of the Büscherhof.
I have received all this undeservedly and I am grateful for it.
Is it still possible to simply accept good things undeservedly and unpaid?
Christmas
Christmas is fast approaching and the topic of presents is of course very topical.
Some people do it in such a way that adults no longer give each other presents and only give them to the children. It's often the case that if an adult needs something, they buy it anyway. The same applies if they would like something and can afford it. That leaves only expensive things as possible gifts and they are too expensive as gifts.
It would be great if you could find a gift that would make the other person happy without them having thought about it beforehand, or if they only secretly suspected it but couldn't really imagine it.
Personally, I almost never succeed. Unfortunately, I'm very bad at giving gifts. Others are much better at it.
How important is it to the recipient why the giver has chosen this particular gift? I thought about this for a while, but didn't come to a conclusion.
On the other hand, we have somehow outsourced the gift-giving, at least for children, or at least many people tell their children that Father Christmas or the Christ Child will bring the presents. But for me personally, that has another downside.
As great as it is to give gifts to each other - and I like receiving gifts - I think it's a shame that the original Jesus Christ is somehow overshadowed by this folklore.
I would like to read them a Christmas text from the Bible that is not often read on Christmas Eve (John 1:11-13; NL):
Only a few people back then understood what a special child this Jesus was. I don't think it would be any different today.
But this Jesus Christ brought the greatest gift of all time: New life from God, in that you can become God's child. You are then no longer just God's creation, but you can become God's child if you receive Jesus and believe in him.
And in the last sentence it is specifically mentioned that this is neither possible by origin nor by achievement, but can only be received from God.
Sometimes I also tend to say "I won't let anyone give me anything", but I learnt many years ago that I need Jesus and so I met God, so to speak, and that changed my life in a very positive way.
Final wishes
I wish you a blessed festive season, a little rest and relaxation.
I hope you have a good time with the people you spend the festive season with. And if there are any conflicts in the air, I hope that they are not so bad and that, if possible, reconciliation happens under the Christmas tree.
I also wish you that, if you receive presents, you can be really happy about them.
And most of all, I hope that you encounter Jesus Christ and experience this new life from God.