Christmastime is a time when almost everyone tends to get in the gifting mood. We get gifts for people for a myriad of reasons including wanting them to feel loved and thought about and to show our appreciation for them. Sometimes we get obligatory gifts for people because they gave one to us and we’d hate to look like we didn’t care too. We even give gifts to our package carriers because we feel guilty about the amount of work they have to do around the holidays (and often in crummy weather). But did you ever consider that regardless of the reasons for our gifts, we can still point our families and others to God as we go? We can use gifting to talk about God and shape faith as we are charged to do in Deuteronomy 6:6-7:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the way, when you lie down and when you get up.”

Here are some ideas for how we can talk about faith and point our families to God as you gift this season:

• Giving Gifts-How do you pick out which gift you will give someone? Do you fly by the seat of your pants? Plan for months? Seek out anything they’ve said they wanted? Look at gift idea lists online? Resign yourself to gift cards for everyone? Think and talk about how your gifts can point others to Jesus as you choose what to give. There are lots of ways that gifts can teach and shape and point, but we have to take time to consider and be intentional to be a light to others.
• Getting Gifts-Receiving gifts can be awesome when someone gets you exactly what you were wanting, but it can also be awkward when someone gets you a dud of a gift. Talk about how we can respond with genuine gratitude and reflect Christ to our gift givers, regardless of the gift received.
• Why Gifts?-Gift giving in conjunction with Christmas began as a reminder of the gold, frankincense and myrrh that the magi brought to Jesus. The three gifts had a spiritual meaning: gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense as a symbol of deity, and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death. Talk as a family about why you give gifts to each other. Maybe you’ve never stopped to consider this before but it would be a great time to start. What do the gifts we give each other have to do with Jesus?
• Emphasis-Sometimes it’s easy for us and our children to get caught up in gifting at Christmas that it becomes our emphasis. Talk about what the most important part of Christmas is as a family. (Hint: it’s not gifts, philanthropy or even family.) How can your family make sure to emphasize what’s important this Christmas season?

 Continue to share the joy of Christ through giving and receiving gifts Christmas and as you gift, consider how through the gifts, we can share Jesus with one another.