Unexpected Gifts

Christmas has come and gone but I wish the spirit of Christmas could live on all 365 days a year. In fact, I wish it would last 366 days this year because 2020 happens to be a leap year! And when I talk about “Christmas Spirit”, I’m not talking about the stress of trying to find that perfect gift for that perfect person. What I’m talking about is an unexpected gift that God gave us when he created us… the gift of a warm and joyful feeling inside that comes from doing something nice for someone else!

Speaking of unexpected gifts, my wife and I received a very unexpected and unusual gift this Christmas. Let me explain. Three years ago, new neighbors moved into a beautiful brand-new home just three doors down from us and brought a puppy with them. Their puppy was really cute and after about 6 months, they started letting him go out on the beach on his own, without a leash. That’s not the best idea, but “Tucker” is smart and no matter how far he roams, he always seems to make it home at night.

We’ve always kind of worried about Tucker because he is on his own morning, noon and night. But he seems to do just fine. Somebody gave him a tennis ball to play with and even though there isn’t anybody to throw it for him, he still has a great time. He drops it on the sand and kicks it with his feet into the ocean, then barks at it until it washes back up on shore. Then he will bury it, bark at it, then dig it back up and kick it into the ocean again. I’ve never seen a dog that could play ball with himself before but apparently Tucker has the unexpected gift of independent play.

However, Tucker has always been a bit standoffish towards us… until recently. I noticed he didn’t have his tennis ball anymore, so I got one out of my shed and threw it for him. I swear it looked like he smiled at me. From that point on he started hanging around our house, partly because we would play with him, and (okay I admit it) partly because we would give him yummy little dog treats.

For months now, Tucker has been hanging around our house every day and it’s been fun for us. I mean think about it, we have a dog we can play with and yet we don’t have to actually take care of him. However, we started feeling guilty about how much time Tucker has been spending at our house, until we received a very unexpected gift at our front door. Inside a large gift basket was a note, apparently written by Tucker, and all kinds of cool stuff like beach towels, cookies, wine, etc. and I’m sure Tucker must have picked out the gifts himself because the gift basket was perfect… and also very unexpected!

And that got me thinking… Maybe the gift of joy that comes from gift giving wasn’t an unexpected gift after all. I mean, weren’t we made in His image!

You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving.

~ Tucker