New Found Joy in Giving to Others

This past Saturday, as I was wrapping up the last of the Christmas gifts, Levin finished helping daddy with a project and came to stand and watch. Standing may not exactly be the right word.

Maybe if we said watching, walking on wrapping paper, volunteering to help, walking on more paper, taking the scissors, grabbing the scotch tape and walking across more wrapping paper, you would get a better picture.

As we sat together, him looking for ways he could be involved, I remembered one of the chief blessings of being the daughter of a garbage collector. A large assortment of unsold, post Christmas wrapping paper. (His occupation being a driver of garbage trucks and only occasionally does that involve forays into the realm of a collector. My husband and father-in-law are more the types to retain and collect garbage as a hobby, but that's another story.)

So back to Levin and his desire to assist in the wrapping festivities. Levin and I went downstairs and picked out a roll of extra wrapping paper, just for him to use.

We found his scissors and he got to do with it as he pleased, whether just cutting up the paper or cutting and wrapping up some of his toys.

He was very taken by the idea of wrapping up some of his toys, and so quickly ran and picked out a favorite toy of Philip's. A special truck Great Grandma Van had given him a couple months ago.

With only a little help, his truck was hidden away beneath the several layers of wrapping and a measured amount of scotch tape.

Then comes the hard part! Waiting for the perfect time to give the perfect gift. In this case I made him wait about an hour until Philip woke up from his nap.

He was so proud of his work and was excited to share it with his brother. At the first sound coming from Philip's room, Levin bolted upstairs full of anticipation at what Philip would think.

He threw the present in Philip's crib as he was still rousing himself with instructions to open it at once. If only I could have caught this all on video, because both boys were so excited. Once Philip unveiled the gift, he seemed a little puzzled to be opening a truck just like the one he already had. But he was still excited to see his brother excited and to get something from him other than the usual assortment of bumps and bruises.

So for all our efforts at teaching our boys, sometimes lessons like the joy of giving come along so spontaneously. Isn't it amazing the lessons God sends our way!