How to Give and Get Gifts that Delight

For those of you who already finished your Christmas shopping, I congratulate you. For the rest, I feel you. How do we choose gifts that delight the people we love so much?

The other day, I was brainstorming presents for my nieces and nephews. As an author and avid reader, I went straight to researching what books would be good fits for them, because a love of reading runs in the family.

Who’s their favorite author? Do they have a special series? Those are the questions I started asking . And guess what? They were excited to tell me! I now have a detailed list of Nancy Drew books my niece has read so I don’t get any duplicates. I also discovered all five are obsessed with the Mandalorian.

Have you stopped to think that God cares about our desires and wants to give us gifts that delight us? The Bible says that if earthly parents give good gifts to their children, how much more does our Heavenly Father want to give good gifts to us! (See Matthew 7:11.)

Here’s the condition, though. Just as I’m not going to give my nieces and nephews five-pound bags of bubble gum, God isn’t going to give us gifts that aren’t good for us. Children might think a five-pound bag of bubble gum is the bomb.com, but their parents (and their dentist) know better. So too does God.

Just as my nieces and nephews were eager to tell me what they want, the Lord wants us to tell Him our desires. Of course, He already knows what they are, but He delights in us asking. When we ask wisely, I think He smiles even more.

Granted, His time and place for good gifts may be different than what we expected, but the gifts are no less good. He gives them to us with love in the best possible way.

Gifts that delight are the kind I want to give and receive, but they require conversations that take time. It’s time well spent.

What about you? What special gifts can you give this year, and what good gifts does God want you to ask Him for?

~ Kristen