Giving in secret

By Rennie Phillips

It's kind of amazing that Christmas falls on a Sunday. That doesn't happen that often. It seems like where it's on Sunday the day is even more special. Christmas is a neat time of the year.

I enjoy Christmas for a host of reasons. I like the candies and the baked goodies. Since I'm diabetic, I have to watch the sweets but I still enjoy some of them. I enjoy the music with all the choirs and caroling and specials on TV. Back a few years ago we'd all take a hayride and carol around town. It might be colder than a frog outside but we'd still enjoy it. I even enjoy all the crowds that fill the stores and shopping centers. I enjoy the spirit that comes with Christmas, kind of a loving, sharing spirit.

I enjoy the family all gathering together for the traditional giving of gifts and the special meal. We always had a special meal. Probably ham was served the most. Along with the ham there was always green beans or corn, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls and numerous kinds of pies. No matter how cold it was we always went out and enjoyed the outdoors. If there was enough snow then we'd go sledding.

But of all the things that seem to come with Christmas, I like that giving sharing spirit best. I like to watch as people walk by the bell ringers and they drop in some coins or paper money. I enjoy listening to how group after group gather and then donate baskets and such to those who are less fortunate than many of us. I enjoy watching as groups take children shopping for gifts that they normally wouldn't get.

The gifts that I admire the most are those anonymous gifts that no one knows where they came from or even who is responsible for them. I really like the guy who goes around at Christmas and hands out $100 bills. Neat. I regret that the news did a story on him. It kind of stole some of his thunder. The neatest part was him doing it in secret. A real true secret Santa.

The Bible even talks about this. It speaks about how we should give in secret and, as a result, we will be rewarded openly later on. But if we give openly so that everyone sees, that will be our reward. The key is to give in such a way as to not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Do it in secret.

Back a bunch of years ago, Marge and I felt that we needed to leave Nebraska and go to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to the school there. We felt like I should study to become a minister. So we borrowed an old pickup with one of those campers on it from Marge's dad, hooked a 12-foot U-Haul trailer behind it and headed to Bartlesville. When we got there we knew one person, Richard Swan. We had a few dollars, no job and no place to live except for the pickup camper.

But we did have a friend back in Arthur, Nebraska, who said she would pray for us and also send us a check monthly. Not much, she said, but enough to go out and buy supper out and maybe an ice cream cone. I don't know who she told or even who really knew about it, but her giving was a real blessing to us. She didn't do it to spout off how great she was, but she did it to bless us, and as a result she was blessed.

It's been a bunch of years ago a group of us would buy gifts for children and teenagers. All we knew was their ages and whether they were boys or girls. So we'd buy the gifts, wrap them and then write the age and sex of the person it went to. We never did know who they went to, nor did they know who gave them. They were just gifts given in love. The reward was knowing that some child had a better Christmas with our help.

I guess I've always felt that gifts from Santa were meant to be this way. Some have said that Christmas is a pagan holiday, but I chose not to go that route. For me it's giving a gift in such a way that you can't be gifted back. It's just a no-strings-attached gift.

After we got settled in Bartlesville and found a home, we were kind of living on the edge. We had enough to eat and pay our bills, but our pantry and fridge definitely had room in them for more groceries. We came home one day and on our back screened-in porch was a whole passel of groceries. I'll bet there was close to a month of groceries. From canned goods to meat to milk and the list went on and on. It made us want to break down and cry.

Two ladies we knew called and made sure we found the groceries so that they didn't spoil. Louise Bodkin and Adadel Hambrick were responsible. They were two ladies we knew but not real well. We had met them at church. They saw a need and did what God had laid on their heart to do. Both of them are gone today, but their deed lives on in Marge's heart and mine. It wasn't to toot their horn and to say "Look at us." It was to meet a need and to bless someone who was needing a little help.

Christmas comes once a year. The Salvation Army and Teen Challenge and others need our help year round. But there are times when the guy or lady or child next door needs our help as well. Help in secret if you can, and if you can't, tell as few as you can possibly get by with.

Have a great Christmas.