A Gift of Self

As I'm trying to spring clean, get organized and get goals and priorities accomplished, I read a neat item about giving the gift of self.

It was a woman who was basically saying sometimes as a wife and mother, you can feel like you are giving, giving, giving.  Giving up your bed in the middle of the night to a child with a nightmare.  Giving up the joy of sleeping in occasionally, giving in so many different ways.

One way is an obvious way that we all think of, which is the gift of self in sacrificing for others.    What this author was talking about though, was something beyond the gift of self in doing laundry, changing dirty diapers, etc.  She was instead talking about the gift of your sense of humor, observations and other unique gifts you can offer (like laying under the clouds and looking for shapes) or in my case, being so awful at baseball that even my two year old knows it.  These gifts can sometimes be much more valuable than the everyday sacrifices we have to offer.  Sometimes, in order to give these gifts, we have to realize that, with the season in our life we are at (especially with small children), not everything will always get done, or always be done perfectly, and that is ok.  There are more important priorities in life.  This week, I will focus more on this.  Not everything in my life has worked out in the way and timing I would have liked it, but I like to think that's because it's giving me opportunities to do other things along the way.  Last week, I finally got to do an act of charity that had been on my mind for a while and when I was honest with myself, I knew I wouldn't have done it if everything had worked out the way I wanted it.  Guess that's another example of "Thank God for unanswered prayers."

As a followup from last week, I found a possibly refreshing way to utilize my veterinary degree and at the same time got encouragement from a nice client with a very generous token of gratitude.  That much-needed gift wasn't all, as I also received an adorable flower arrangement from a friend with an even more important piece of encouragement.