As we finish up the last few days of shopping, planning and creating for the Christmas season I thought I'd share my thoughts on what we could give others around us as THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT---yes, this sounds bold and somewhat impossible, but please read on...
OUR HUSBANDS
Give him the gift of a submissive and respecting wife. From this day forth be loyal to him and committed to him in all your thoughts and actions. Be trustworthy with his finances and bring him good and not harm all the days of your life. Care for his home they way you would take care of the Lord's home, after all, it is all His anyways.
Raise his children to love the Lord and honor him. Build him up with your words and vow to never tear him down again. Help him with his weak areas. Love your husband and forgive him of His shortcomings the way Christ has forgiven you. I don't think he'll want to return or exchange this kind of a gift!
OUR CHILDREN
Show the gift of love to our children through our actions. Disciple them, shepherd them and teach them the Word of God so they will teach about Him to the next generation. Do not treat them as a burden that gets in your way because they are our true gifts from God that truly make our lives rich. In a spirit of kindness, meekness, patience and joy, spend time with them for this is really what they want--not that toy you fretted over purchasing that will sit in the corner untouched for much of the year. Imprint on their hearts righteousness as you will be helping to save their souls from wicked ways. Teach them not to be drunk on entertainment and pleasure as the world is, but teach them to serve the Lord with their lives---be committed to giving your whole life to raise to lovingly raise them, all these will be gifts that will last a lifetime and be passed onto our grandchildren and great grandchildren whom we might never see.
OUR PARENTS
Give them the gift on honor and patience and kindness. Respect them and love them because of who they are and do not remind yourself of their failings. The mere fact that God has placed them as your parents in your life is enough to give them all the honor and respect due to them. Give them the gift of time as well because they won't be around forever. Love them unconditionally because they need Christ just as much as you do. (Imagine if they were drawn to Christ because someone loved them and shared about Him, wouldn't that be quite an 'eternal' gift?)
OURSELVES
Give yourself the ultimate gift--- the Word of God.
Don't try to be who you're not or buy what you cannot afford. Give yourself the gift of rest that comes from bathing yourself in His priceless gift to you, His Word. Restore yourself, revive yourself in the richness of His wisdom and His merciful grace. Take time in it. Read. Relish. Treasure it in your heart. Connect with Him. Let Him speak to your heart--stop drowning out His voice with anxious thoughts, frivolous pursuits and empty gain. His Word is truly a precious treasure, more that any gift of diamonds or gold and will empower you to live the best life that you could have ever dreamed of or imagined.
OUR HEAVENLY FATHER
We cannot forget the One for whom this whole season is about! He gave us the perfect gift of His son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins. Because of that we can have eternal life in heaven with Him!
Because of this, let's give Him the gift of a committed daughter----you!!! Commit yourself today to renew and strengthen your walk with Him, don't wait until you begin planning your New Year's goals to do this. Commit every area to him, especially those things you've been hanging onto like bad luggage...for example:
pride
that private sin no one knows about
your sinful thoughts about _________
and so forth...
The greatest thing about all these gifts is that they are for FREE....yes, I said free! In fact, I read the price tag myself and the only thing I saw inscribed on them was simply this:
LOVE.
Yes, love, after all, isn't that the price He paid for us???
Now what are you waiting for, ladies?
We've got to get busy "wrapping" up these gifts!
Are you encouraged here?
15 comments:
This is a beautiful Christmas gift list. Thank you!
BTW, I love the picture of the child playing with the nativity set!
These are truly the best gifts of all!
Thanks for the reminder of who the Lord has called us to be and how wo need to be living out our lives. I will get busy applying my heart to this right away!
Thank you for the reminders of the "gifts" we are to truly be giving this year--I just found your blog,and have already been thoroughly enjoying it---may the Lord bless you for your encouraging words to ladies trying to build their houses according to His word!
Thank you so much for the reminder!
I was wondering, do you have any tips for teaching little girls to love their fathers? Or resources? I am working on my own 1st time submission, yikes, so hard! But I don't know how to encourage their love for their daddy, or how to encourage him in loving his girls. There aren't many good examples in my life either. Thanks and merry christmas!
Excellent post! These really are the most truly beautiful gifts that we can give; all year round and not just at Christmas.
Truly, these are the most precious and lasting gifts ~ thanks for the gentle reminder.
May you and your family have a blessed Christmas!
Dearest Rose,
Thanks for visiting, and what a great question you asked! I think one of the greatest resources God gave is mothers. Even if you don't know where to begin a great place to start is by communicating this to your daughters verbally and begin to sow seeds that point in that direction on both behalves (your husband and children). You can begin to foster a great love by saying things to your little daughters such as "Daddy, will be home soon! Let's get the house ready and nice for him." and "What do you think Daddy will think about that?" and "Let's make Daddy his favorite dessert." and "Daddy works hard for us because he love us so much, let's surprise him with this." and "Why don't you ask Daddy about this?" by pointing their little hearts to him. Dear Rose, you are the greatest example and if you are loving him and respecting him, they will pick up on that and learn from you and their hearts will be drawn closer to him. Do bathe this one in much prayer because God will give you wisdom on what to say and do.
There are many great resources out there for strengthening the family. I would suggest Vision Forum and Above Rubies. You can visit their links on my sidebar. Vision Forum even has tapes from daughters who talk about giving their hearts to their father...it's very good! I actually got to meet the gals and it was a great blessing. VF has also done teachings about fathers raising daughters just for dads.
Pray that God would bring real life examples into your life, every time I have prayed for this in the past and He has always faithfully answered and provided.
Hope that helps and many blessings...
Dear June,
Thank you for this message,it was very encouraging and so very true. The gifts you spoke of cost nothing as far as dollars are concern, but they are priceless and require the giving that comes from the heart.
God bless you as you minister to us women through your blog, continue serving the Lord with a glad heart. May you and your love ones have a blessed time creating sweet memories to enjoy always.
For HIM, Lydia <><
Thank you for providing the conformation that I knew in my heart the Lord was/is saying to me.
It is time to nail some things to the cross and not look back.
Thank you for the encouragement :)
May you and your family continue to receive the greatest blessing available--the Holy presence of Jesus Christ in your daily living :)
Sharon
What a beautiful and timely post! Thank you for sharing it with us!
Thank you, Mrs. Fuentes, for using your spiritual gift to encourage wives and mothers in godliness.
I've been following your blog for quite some time now, but this is my first comment. You have both challenged and encouraged me as a wife and mother. Thank you also for providing resource information. I am now a subscriber to Above Rubies and have visited Vision Forum. Neither had I ever heard about before reading your blog.
With much appreciation...
Beautiful post, June:)
Love,
Rhonda
What a beautiful -and thought-provoking - post. Thanks so much..and Merry Christmas!!
Awesome post! Thanks for sharing!
I really was blessed by your encouragement.
Post a Comment