Christmas Gifts

Christmas time is upon us, and we are diving, head first, into the Advent season at break neck speed.  Black Friday is looming over the horizon, hidden by the turkey and cranberry sauce, but we begin our shopping sprees and materialistic adventures.

Let me be the first to say, I am not above materialism.  I like stuff, mainly tech stuff, but I do have my limits.  I'm starting to tinker, in my mind, about things.  I'm plotting to make a guitar pedal switch out of cheap and/or spare parts for an effects switch I won, for some on the fly podcasting stuff.  At the same time I'm not above asking for new stuff that I don't have, or newer stuff that I need to replace stuff that is beginning to wear out (ie: wallet).

Growing up, Christmas meant new stuff: G.I. Joes (the 3½" ones that were held together by rubber washers, not the doll sized ones - I'm not that old), Legos, Nintendo games, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys, and the dreaded clothes.  Seriously though, clothes aren't for Christmas, they're for birthdays and Easter!

The new stuff would either replace the old stuff or become intro-grated with the other toys.  Personally speaking, my new GI Joes would go through a hazing period.  I'm not proud of those periods, but it had to be done to prove their worth, to seperate the men from the boys.  However, come February, those gifts no longer had the same importance they did on December 26th, their giftiness (I'm ™ing that word, yo!) had lost its luster and they became apart of my everyday life.  Especially the GI Joes who wrestled twice a week, against one another.

This week began with a real deep moment, for me.  I was drawn to the gifts God has presented with me.  I've noticed that they've lost their giftiness™ in my eyes and I'm starting to feel that I'm misusing, or even underusing, those gifts.


The first thing that came to me was my artistic gift, and how I've been ignoring it a lot lately.  I keep this blog, which looks pretty, but that only took a little bit of that talent.  On top of that, it was used for my own self.  As is everything else I've done.  Even at work, I use my talent for a paycheck.  I don't freely share it with others.

I don't want to keep my gift to myself, though.  There's no use for it if I'm the only one who can play with it.  And no matter how weird that last sentence reads, it's the truth: I want to share my gifts with everyone.

As a trial run, I'm offering my talents to whoever needs it.  I will take on all new projects, until the end of the year, and will work to the best of my ability (and sanity) to get them all done in a timely manner.  I will take on multiple projects at once, and even pick up other ones I have forgotten about (sorry Missy).  I will give my gift to all who would like to use it because a gift isn't worth keeping to yourself, especially a gift from God, Himself!