FOR many people, Christmas is a time of sorrow. They don’t have the extra money to buy presents for their children, family, and friends. Many are saddened at Christmas time when they think of their loved ones who will not be able to come home for various reasons.
Turkey dinners may be only a wish and not a reality for some.
Yet, Christmas can be a season of great joy. It is a time of God showing His great love for us. It can be a time of healing and renewed strength.
You see, Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of the Christ child. God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to be born. His birth brought great joy to the world.
Shepherds, wise men, and angels all shared in the excitement of knowing about this great event. They knew this was no ordinary baby.
The prophets had told of His coming hundreds of years before. The star stopped over Bethlehem just to mark the way for those who were looking for this special child.
For quite some time, I have always spent Christmas day with my family at home. During Christmas, it is me who always receives gifts from other people and relatives.
Though it’s nice to be showered with many Christmas presents, I have always asked myself “when will I also make others happy on Christmas day apart from my wife and children?”
Having thought hard about it, I decided to break with tradition on 25th December, 2013 after church service and invited a four –year- old boy called Geoffrey. The boy, who is a double orphan, is looked after by his grandmother within our neighbourhood.
I asked my wife to extend all the goodies she would prepare for our three children and a niece to Geoffrey as well for this Christmas.
My children were equally excited and happy to see Geoffrey at the small Christmas party we organised. I was very happy to invite the boy because at the end of it all I felt relieved.
Geoffrey’s coming at our home was a blessing in disguise to me on that day because of several fantastic and memorable surprises that happened to me.
First, I received a phone call from a person I owed K100 informing me that he’d cancelled my debt as a Christmas present to me.
Second, I received airtime worth K50 from five different people from Ndola and Luanshya which I later shared with my wife as part of Christmas good will.
Finally, as if this was not enough, about 16:00 hours, a lady came home with a live white chicken and reminded me of some good deed I extended to her in the distant past and she brought the chicken as a token of her appreciation for the gesture.
She explained that she decided to wait until Christmas day to express her thanks. I have learnt that Christmas is a time of giving and not only receiving.
We should all learn to share the little resources God has blessed us with the underprivileged people in our communities. You do not need to be a very rich and successful businessman or having a well-paying job for you to share with others, even a small present or gift on Christmas day goes a long way in making others feel loved and appreciated.
After all, isn’t it said that what matters is not the size of the gift, but the thought behind the gift?
We should always remember that there is an enormous blessing in giving than in receiving just like the Christian holy book the Bible clearly says that “a hand that giveth, receiveth.” It further says, in the second book of Corinthians 9 verse 7, that “for God loves a cheerful giver.”
This simply means when we give, we shall also receive in the end and we must give cheerfully as God will love us.
Besides, God loving us by cheerfully extending our hands to others especially on occasions like Christian day like Christmas, our God the Creator will most definitely bless us abundantly.
Giving is like sowing or planting a seed and in the end one who whole heartedly gave without complaining will reap the rewards of giving at God’s appointed time.
In summing up, allow me to appeal to or encourage fellow readers of Times of Zambia to develop interest in contributing to this wonderful, popular and fascinating column. It is only you out there that can sustain this column by writing stories of what happened to you or others.
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