By Nancy Virden (c)2024

Try a different approach to gift-giving, especially if overspending is addictive for you.

1. Bless your loved ones with your presence more than presents. Gift your mother or father with a promise to come around or call more often in 2025. Throughout the year, make this a priority. Put it on your calendar, and set alarms if necessary. However you do it, keep in touch with the people who lovingly raised you. You can start today!
2. Keep it inexpensive. Give within your budget, or at least do not charge your gifts. Last year I received used technology when the giver upgraded. I did not need anything fancy, and I was thrilled. I also received a USB of a loved one’s favorite podcast. These cost nothing and I’ve enjoyed each for a year. Consider giving a piece of yourself in the form of a favorite book, album, art piece, cartoon, or video. Make a scrapbook of articles you think someone will enjoy.
3. Handmade items are often much appreciated. It is not too late if you are not building a house! Baked goods, canned goods, art (keep it small), record a song, write a song, compile some original poems, write a “Why I love you” essay or list. Write out your favorite meaningful Bible verses, or tell a good story. If you are gifting someone who loves you they will appreciate it. If someone does not love you, gift them a homemade card.
4. Ignore the pressure to give beyond your means. What are you trying to gain? Keeping “up” with societal norms for the sake of fitting in is not giving; it is manipulative and selfish. A man once gave a diamond bracelet to his wife. She was not pleased because it did not match her simple tastes. He grew angry and asked me. “Shouldn’t she be excited?” I said, “If you insist she act pleased when she is not, it sounds like you bought the bracelet for yourself, not your wife.”
5. Give quality not quantity. One gift with meaning is worth a dozen more expensive superficial things. Give from the heart instead of your wallet. Think. Consider. Enjoy giving because you know your gift is a good one.

-COMMENTS WELCOME

Today’s Helpful Word

John 3:16

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

If you are feeling suicidal, or concerned about someone who is, in the U.S. call 988, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. For a list of international suicide hotlines, go here.

If you are suicidal with a plan, immediately call 911 in the U.S. or go to your nearest emergency room. In the EU call 112. (For other international emergency numbers, go here ). Hope and help are yours!

Always the Fight Ministries (ATFM) has been displaying compassion for those fighting mental illness, addiction, or abuse since 2012. Nancy is the founder and voice of ATFM and openly shares her emotional resurrection from despair. 

NOTE: Nancy is not a doctor or a mental health professional, and speaks only from personal experience and observations. This website is not intended to substitute for professional mental or behavioral health care.

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