. . .for giving and receiving. We know the truths: It is better to give than to receive. God loves a cheerful giver.
I suspect that God also loves a grateful receiver.
As I was dusting the candle sticks, clock, and flower arrangement that sit on my piano, I focused, for perhaps the first time, on a tiny teapot.
In my family, you must be careful about stating, “I really like. . .” Family members pick up on that statement and begin flooding your birthday and Christmas with what you really like, so that soon you have a collection. I once mentioned that I thought pigs were cute (not the big sows, but the little pink piglets). Within a year, I had a collection of pigs – stuffed pigs, ceramic pigs, wooden pigs – gratefully, no live pigs.
I also spoke of how fond I am of teapots. Instant collection, including a teapot shaped like a pig, a combining of my two compassions.
The little teapot that I dusted was a part of the collection, given to me by my aunt, Helen Virginia, one of many that she sent.
Today, I looked at it carefully for the first time, although I received it several years ago. I had read the open book that forms the lid of the pot – where Shakespeare’s famous sonnet, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” is embossed. But I had never noticed that the body of the pot is made up of tiny books, all books of poetry, by famous poets: Wordsworth, Rossetti, Keats, Shelley, Byron, and Tennyson.
For the first time, I appreciated the fitness of that gift – my teapot collection, but even more, my love of literature, my love of these poets. And I could picture my aunt, finding the little pot and feeling that she had found the perfect gift for her teapot- and poetry-loving niece.
And it made me sad. Because I didn’t notice, I probably didn’t react the way she anticipated – I know she was excited about the fitness of the gift and looked forward to my reaction when I received it. I don’t know how I reacted – I must have written her a thank-you note, but I am afraid I disappointed her, and I am sorry about that.
I remember some of my own gift-giving, two in particular. I found a gift that was fitting for the recipient – and couldn’t wait to see him open it. In the first case, the eyes of the recipient lit up and he was as pleased as I had hoped. In the second, there was little response; he did not receive it with the joy and surprise that I had anticipated.
Of course, gift-giving should not be about the recipients living up to my excitement – but the lesson I have learned from my own experiences and from the teapot is to look carefully at the gift, imagine the thought and love that went in to its purchase, and react with gratitude, gratitude for the gift, gratitude for the love that led to its purchase. I have vowed never again to disappoint the people in my life who honor me with their carefully chosen gifts.
Today, the day after Christmas, I am looking over the gifts I received from my family. I was honored by the thoughtfulness that went into each purchase and I was careful to show that to each giver. And, in turn, I experienced the joy of watching the opening of the gifts I had purchased.
Christmas gifts are, after all, an exchange of love – and it is that love, I believe, that most honors Him whose birth we celebrate on that day.