Regifting - guest post by Sheri Hathaway

  

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

I love the way 2 Corinthians 9: 15 is worded in the NIV version. Indescribable means something is too wonderful for words. (So remember that the next time you can’t think of the words; praise God and say, “It must be indescribable!”) But seriously, have you ever wondered what this world would be like if Jesus hadn’t come?  Now that, friend, is indeed indescribable. Not wonderful – it’s too awful for words. 

So here we are, approaching Christmas when we thank God for his indescribable gift, his son, Jesus Christ. 

It’s times like this that I wonder other thoughts. Thoughts like, what gift can I give back to God? My heart, of course. OK, but what else? Well, my writing seems like an obvious answer. And in giving my writing back to him (Speaking of re-gifting – oh, were we? No, but we are now) I am also giving something to the world. 

I’m always amazed to realize that a total stranger read something I wrote. It’s as if I forget that once I send my writing out in an email, I don’t realize that it actually goes somewhere, is read by an editor, and is printed where complete strangers can read it – other actual inhabitants of this earth. On occasion, those readers email me. They tell me that they read my piece (most like it, in case you wondered). At that moment, I’m deep in thought over the next piece and am jolted back into the past to when I wrote and submitted the thing they’re talking about. That’s when the reality of being a writer hits me. That’s when I am reminded of the responsibility I have to others. Of course, God gave me this desire and ability to write so I have a responsibility to Him, too. 

So thinking of all this at Christmastime, I have a private conversation with God. Of course, the first thing I do is thank him for his gift to me, the indescribable gift of his Son. Then I thank him for this gift of writing. I also thank him for keeping me alive long enough to write full-time after retirement because before that, it didn’t happen often, no matter how much I wanted to do it. Then I ask Him for another gift – I ask him to keep giving me the words He wants me to write because I am only the instrument, his pen to write his words. After all, I don’t want everything to be indescribable. I want to be able to keep giving to the world, and him, what He gave to me. 

Regifting and regifting and regifting, over and over again. 

Sheri Hathaway is a freelance writer and watercolour artist living in Saskatoon. She writes historical pieces focusing on farm and family. Her writing has been published in the Western Producer, Neighbourhood Express, Freelance magazine and others. Her online home is sherihathaway.com and on Facebook at Author Sheri Hathaway.