Gifts from the Heart

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The following excerpt was taken from a 1980 talk given by then Elder Joseph B. Eyring, entitled Gifts of Love:

“I’ve always had a daydream of being a great gift giver. I can picture someone opening my gift with tears of joy and a smile showing that the giving, not just the gift, had touched a heart. …I’ve been building a theory.

My theory comes from thinking about many gifts and many holidays. But one day and one gift can illustrate it. It was a summer day. My mother died in the early afternoon. My father, my brother, and I had gone from the hospital to our family home, just the three of us. Friends and family came to the house, and went. In a lull, we fixed ourselves a snack.

Dad answered the door bell. It was Aunt Catherine and Uncle Bill. When they’d walked just a few feet past the vestibule, Uncle Bill extended his hand and I could see that he was holding a bottle of cherries. I can still see the deep red, almost purple, cherries and the shining gold cap on the mason jar. He said, “You might enjoy these. You probably haven’t had dessert.”

We hadn’t. The three of us sat around the kitchen table and put some cherries in bowls and ate them as Uncle Bill and Aunt Catherine cleared some dishes. ... And then Aunt Catherine and Uncle Bill were gone. They could not have been with us more than 20 minutes.

Now, you can understand my theory best if you focus on one gift: the bottle of cherries. As nearly as I can tell, the giving and receiving of a great gift always has three parts. Here they are, illustrated by that gift on a summer evening.

First, I knew that Uncle Bill and Aunt Catherine …must have felt we’d be too tired to fix much food. Just knowing that someone had understood meant far more than the cherries themselves. I can’t remember the taste of the cherries, but I remember that someone knew my heart and cared.

Second, I felt the gift was free. I knew Uncle Bill and Aunt Catherine had chosen freely to bring a gift. And I knew they weren’t doing it to compel a response from me. The gift seemed to provide them joy in the giving.

And third, there was sacrifice. I knew that from the cherries being home bottled. That meant Aunt Catherine had made them for her family. They must have liked cherries. But she took that possible pleasure for them and gave it to me. There was sacrifice, but it was made for a greater return to them—my happiness.

Well, there is a simple theory. When you’re on the receiving end, you will discover three things in the great gift giver: he felt what you felt and was touched; he gave freely; and he counted sacrifice a bargain.”

How simple and elementary. When we give gifts we go all out trying to have a great find, and make the receiver full of joy.  In reality, any gift that comes from the heart will have a great impact.

The thought that drives me most of the time is SIMPLIFY. A gift from the heart will be thoughtful and simple, and will delight anyone who’s getting it,  right?

As always we welcome your comments.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Wednesday 11 May, click here.

36 Great Ideas

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car•ol [ kárrəl ]Noun

joyful hymn: a joyful religious song or hymn, especially a Christian song celebrating Christmas. Source: here

“I heard the bells on Christmas Day; their old familiar carols play, and wild and sweet the word repeat of peace on earth, good-will to men!” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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The more I research about the traditions of Christmas, the more surprised I get. It’s almost always about pagan times, or from the Dark Ages. Interesting.

I wanted to share how carols and caroling came to be. It turns out that they didn’t start out as praise to God, or to the Newborn King.

The word originated from French and Anglo-Norman origin. A carol was considered a dance song, or a song that was danced while people formed a circle, hence the term ‘circle song.’ Carols were sung during all four seasons, but the tradition of singing them at Christmastime is the only one that survived.

Early Christians took over this custom and wrote songs about Christ and the Virgin Mary and others, and the tradition changed. But because they were mostly sung in Latin, during the middle Ages (1200) people lost interest and many stopped celebrating Christmas.

This soon changed when Saint Francis of Assisi started his Nativity plays, and this time people could understand them, because they were written in their own language. The tradition spread fast.

By the 15th century carols evolved into an art form, became more elaborate and were considered an important contribution to medieval music.

Later on, minstrels and waits (watchmen at walled cities) would pass their time by singing carols. From there, the tradition changed to having the minstrels go from door to door, singing to people and hoping to receive a treat in return.

Nowadays, we pay good money to go see a live Christmas show, where we can listen to our favorite artists perform the famous and popular songs of the season. How’s that for change!

I’d like to share a version of my favorite carol with you. I made myself my own playlist with my favorite performers and songs. I have to admit that I own several different versions of the Carol of the Bells, just because I love this song.




Sources: here, here and here.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Friday, 10 December, please click here.