"Mama, you said God would bless me if I gave money in the offering, and He did!" My 12-year-old granddaughter exclaimed to her mother. Her uncle had just given his young visiting nieces and nephews money as Christmas gifts. Rachel wasted no time in enjoying this blessing as she shopped at the Galleria later yesterday.
I had to agree with the sentiment myself last night. With my family scattered far and wide, I take advantage of the chance to give them their gifts early if I will be seeing them before Christmas. Not long ago I had seen a gorgeous soup tureen at an amazingly low price at an estate sale, and, against all logic, since I would soon be downsizing and putting things into storage, I bought it. I enjoyed it for a couple of weeks and then the thought occured to me that it would make a wonderful present for my daughter I would see at Thanksgiving.
But what to give to the rest of the family? The wonderful big Scrabble set I had found at a previous sale would be perfect. I liked it a lot, but they had so enjoyed using it on a visit a few weeks ago, I decided to give it to them. And they were thrilled with it, thanking me profusely before loading it into their vehicle to take home to Georgia.
Then yesterday, following through with the activities on our hosts', Jamie and Tammy's, agenda, we browsed through the corridors and stores of the Galleria in Houston. We picked up a couple of items, including a cushy gingerbread man for our grandbaby at a build-your-own teddy bear store, but we really didn't shop.
Later on, we filled a couple of hours at a bookstore until dark when we could take a tour of seeing Christmas lights with the family. I had covered the entire store twice, and had bought nothing but a birthday card. Several books and displays were interesting, but nothing called out "buy me".
Just as I was headed to the exit to join the others, my son, Trevor, called out to me. "Mom! Did you see that giant Scrabble board back there?" No, I hadn't seen it, just the regular-looking ones in the games department. But my eyes lit up and I asked where, exactly. He pointed me in the direction, and I found a huge, deluxe edition with inch-high letters in an attractive carrying case displaying a colorful game board. I loved it! It looked expensive, though!
"The sign says 50% off," I said to the clerk. "Does that include these?" I asked her.
"Yes, it was supposed to be just for the smaller games, but we decided to include this, too. But just for today," she emphasized. Well, it was Black Friday, after all. My heart leapt at the possibility of getting the beautiful set. I asked if I could take it to show my husband, and she offered to carry it up front when I remarked how heavy it was.
"Are you buying that?" my son asked, wide-eyed, when he saw me following the sales clerk. I told him I wanted to see if Howard would buy it for me, and he said, "I'll buy it for you!" I protested, but he was adamant. How sweet to buy me such a wonderful gift! I thought.
When we got back to Jamie's house, everyone exclaimed over the handsome board, and my husband and our son, Mark, joined Trevor and me for a game. What fun we had and what a pleasure to whirl the effortless turntable and admire the beautiful "Giant Edition" with its walnut frame. Was God blessing me for unselfishly giving away my other treasured set? I believe He was!
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