When I look at the calendar on my desk, I know it is October 21st today.Suddenly, something flash in my mind and telling me that some great celebration of the year is coming soon. Christmas is coming and as a Christian , I am excited for this great celebration and looking forward to receive a gift from my friends and relatives. But within a few second, another message comes up in my mind: What will be your Christmas gifts to your friends and relatives? Good question for myself! I then search over google.com immediately and find out some gift ideas from an About.com article. The article show me the top 10 gift ideas for my Christian friends and relatives. I will only mention the top 5 in here: A Bible, a worship or music CD or DVD, a Christian book, an audio book club subscription, a Christian movie or DVD. These are all great gifts idea but another new issue pop up within me. It will be a good idea to buy a gift for just one friend but since I have many friends and relatives, it is going to be difficult to buy a Christmas gift for everyone. I don't have that kind of money anyway. Facing the reality that some of my friends and relatives aren't even Christians (at least for this moment) .What is the best gift idea for everyone in Christmas season then? Ah ha....! I have come up with some solution for this question. Let me explain:
1. To help someone with my house
Some of my friends and relatives are living alone. Loneliness is the problem that some of my friends and relatives will face during the Christmas holidays. I can invite them to my house and plan for a great fun night for them.(Don't think that it is easy to arrange for a meeting like this in Hong Kong as what people do in North America. It is difficult in Hong Kong because the houses we have in this place are usually much smaller than what people have in North America. It is not a normal experience for people to celebrate Christmas together in a house setting in this city.) That will be a great idea for all the people to overcome their loneliness by relating to each others in the meeting.( At least for one night).By the end of the night, I will arrange for a free draw or a gift exchange for everyone who will bring in their unique Christmas gift. That will be one of the best Christmas gift for everyone and save my time and headache on hunting for different gifts in the shopping mall. One gift is enough. For the meeting , I can ask some people to help and I am willing to pay for the food as a host. Of course, it is a day to share my testimony of how God has blessed me through the year and I will definitely introduce Jesus to everyone during the meeting. As a Christian, that will be my best gift to all my friends and relatives in Christmas time. It is because Jesus is a friend who will always be near and will never leave us alone.
2. To care someone with my visit
There are some people in the community who need special greeting and caring during the Christmas season. Especially the elderly people who are living in an elderly caring home in Hong Kong, Many of them are underprivileged group and living as a single and lonely resident in the elderly caring home. (people who has no relatives to take care of them).I can arrange for a visit to this kind of places and sing a Christmas song with my guitar as an entertainment to them. Not just that, I can also encourage more people to go with me to talk and listen to the feeling of the elderly. One problem that many elderly are facing in the caring home in Hong Kong : they have nobody to talk to and nobody wants to listen to their feeling. Living in a place with a weak body and feeling of isolation and loneliness, the elderly are full of sadness within their own heart. Our visit will surely give them some hope in this world that at least somebody still cares. That will be a best gift idea for the elderly. Caring is what Christian or anyone with compassion should do in Christmas time and it will be another best gift to someone in Hong Kong.
3. To love someone with my hug
It is very difficult to receive a hug from someone in Hong Kong because of our Chinese culture. It is because we could hardly get a hug from our parents as a child, nor can the children get a chance to hear their parents saying " I love you" to them. If you want to hug someone in Hong Kong, you have better know that person really well. Otherwise, you will be in great trouble. Is there any way to express our love by giving a hug to people in Hong Kong during Christmas time? Yes, I can start by doing it to the children who are willing to receive it all the times (the children of my friends and relatives). They are the people who will love my hug all the times. I can also hug those friends and relatives who may not reject me if I know them well. Perhaps my parents will be a good choice since they are the one I suppose to love first. Unfortunately, my parents are not in this world anymore. Otherwise, I will definitely give them more hugs than anybody in this world .I think that will be another best gift idea that a Christian can give in Hong Kong.
Christmas is a season of help, care and love. We can see all this through the birth of Jesus. As the Bible saying "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believe in Him , shall never die but have everlasting life.(John 3:16)": We have already receive the best gifts from God, namely His only son.: Jesus. I want to send this best gift idea to everyone from Hong Kong to the whole world right now. Here you go......and catch your gift ! Merry Christmas!
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