Behold I do not give lectures or a
little charity;
When I give I give myself.
Walt
Whitman, poet; he was born
on
this date, 1819, at West Hill NY
Ourself. This is the greatest
gift we can give. Including to ourselves. Everything else is a token … and it’s
important what we give is a token of. Gifts of “things” don’t have to be
expensive … but at their best, expensive things should express that we are
giving a great deal of Ourself. However, “simple gifts” … like that of a child
to a parent or friend - a drawing, etc., are on the level of a big diamond to a
person one wants to marry.
When I was the Rector of St.
Peter & St. Andrew in Providence RI, I asked a 12 year old ADHD boy names
Andrew to give the “homily” at the Christmas family liturgy. It took him
forever to write it, his mother told me. It was about 30 words long. It took him about 7 minutes to read it from
the pulpit. But there wasn’t a dry eye in the house! He just told the Baby
Jesus how wonderful He was … and thanked Him for coming. But what a gift! It
was both a gift of himself, and an understand that Jesus had given Himself so
that the Human Race might know who they were.
I guess Walt’s message is
clear: Never give any gift to
anyone without asking yourself: Does it carry me as the true gift?
The Christian Myth says, “God
so loved the World that He gave His only-begotten Son”.
A human being bearing the gift
of Divine Origin, of Unconditional Belovedness.
There’s our standard.
Brian+
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