Out of the Mouth of Babes...

I took the little one shopping, last night, for that one special gift for my wife, from the little one.  I had a hand full of stocking stuffers, and I was looking for something that just screamed to be bought.

I couldn't find a damn thing, and I started to get a bit annoyed that there wasn't anything I liked enough, and my daughter tugs on my arm and goes "What's wrong?" so I answer her, ever so softly "I can't find anything I think mommy would love." The next words out of her mouth blew my mind.

She looked up at me and smiled.  "You should get her the gift of nothing."  I was perplexed.  "Do what?" was my only response.  Yeah, I was in the middle of a store, arms full of stuff, my daughter was suddenly the Dalai Lama, and the only thing I could come up with was a question.  "What do you mean, sweetie?"  She sighed, like I should already know what 'the gift of nothing is' and said "The gift of nothing.  It's when you give nothing, you give yourself, and there's nothing better than giving yourself, because it's better than anything you could get."

There, in the middle of the Temple of Consumerism, my daughter was preaching the Sermon of Nothing, and I could do anything except drop everything I had, hug her tight, and leave, still on the verge of tears.  In that one moment, of getting frustrated over what to give my wife, from my daughter, she gave me the greatest gift I could have ever wanted: humble pie.

My daughter is wiser than I could have ever thought, and I could do nothing but be a proud papa of her in that moment.  I just hope she remembers the Sermon of Nothing that she gave me in that moment, to remind me, that nothing is a special as the nothing I get from my family, all year.

Since this'll probably be the last blog post of the year, sans my philosophy paper, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and please don't forget to Observe the Holiday of Nothing before consumerism kills it.

Grace, Peace, Merry Christmas, and God Bless,
Jesse