People are funny. We never realize how much we take away from the opportunities we have. The little things matter, and the little efforts count when doing those little things.
One simple opportunity that comes to mind is gift giving. There is something special about receiving a gift that someone picked out solely for you. And it’s special because it could be anything from a card to a piece of jewelry, but it means so much because they had you in mind when they got it.
People don’t do much of that anymore though. Typically, people send the money and ask somebody to grab up a gift for you from them. To me, that’s not nearly as heartfelt. You’d actually be better off giving them the money instead.
This isn’t the biggest deal in the world, but it is something that I’ve noticed. It makes me wonder, how much or little of who we are are we really giving to people? If we can’t even put thought into a gift, can we consistently put thought into everything else we do for people? I believe we still can, but I hate having to wonder.
When it comes to gift giving, I pray for the day that people realize that part of the gift is in them taking their time to go pick it out. Not someone else.