Can Someone Re-Gift a Spiritual Gift? Asking for a Friend

Do people still re-gift their unwanted gifts from last holiday season? From the office Christmas party?

What about Nana’s porcelain southern belle figurine? Can I re-gift that? While this little six-inch blonde beauty dressed in a very southern dress and bonnet was cute back in 1974, I never really got attached to it like Mom.

She loved her figurines.

She proudly displayed them all throughout the house. We had everything from a Persian cat with six porcelain kitties displayed in the piano room, to an entire village of old, wrinkled-faced men and women prominently displayed for everyone to see in our family room. Mom always saw the beauty in them. She would show them to every visitor who came to our home. She would dust them on Saturdays; she’d take them out of the curio cabinet, rearrange them, and even place lights inside the cabinet so they could get the best light possible so everyone could see.

All I saw (and still see) were more items that needed dusting.

As I thought about all of her many gifts that she had collected throughout the years just so she could give them away at just the right occasion, I could not help but think about God’s gifts to us that we don’t use, don’t appreciate, or don’t see the beauty in – just as Mom saw in her figurines.

In Romans 12: 6a, Paul reminded us that “we (all) have different gifts, according to the grace given us”, but how many of us actually love our gifts? How many of us proudly display or use our gifts like Mom did her figurines? Do we take care of our gifts, dusting them off, moving them around, aiming just enough light on them so that others can see and appreciate our gifts?

I will admit, I have been thinking about re-gifting these little figurines. While they were once cherished by my mom and they brought joy to our family growing up in suburban Houston, Texas, I still don’t see the relevance of each porcelain kitty or the value of keeping an old man figurine from the Home Interiors Collection ’76.  I just don’t want the clutter anymore around the house. I don’t want to dust. I don’t want to adjust lights.

So, I have to ask: is it okay to re-gift Nana’s gifts – things she held dearly to her heart, things which made her smile, which made her proud, things which made her feel a sense of responsibility?

And if it’s okay to re-gift Nana’s gifts, is it okay to re-gift the spiritual gifts from God that I don’t necessarily want or use anymore? Although I really love teaching and training, for example, I don’t do any of it in my 8-5 job. I thought I would when I started the role, but it doesn’t seem to be where I’m valued. I used to teach a college course every five weeks, sometimes multiple courses simultaneously, and I loved it. I loved my students. I loved going to class. I loved preparing different ways to present the subject matter. I loved reading homework assignments. I loved everything about teaching.  Now, I’m not teaching at all. In my present career role, my training or teaching employees doesn’t seem relevant.

So, if I’m decluttering the house, throwing away, repurposing, or re-gifting those items which are no longer relevant, no longer needed or no longer desired – if it’s okay to re-gift Nana’s figurines, can I apply that same process to those spiritual gifts I am no longer using?

1 Peter 4:10-11a reminds me “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God”. Romans 12:7b reminds me “if it is teaching, then teach.” And in 1 Corinthians 12: 4- 8, Paul reminds me “there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kids on working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.” So, if God is the same now as He was 2000 years ago, and will be the same 2000 years from now, and His Spirit fuels the gift of teaching within me, despite being placed in a different career, despite feeling irrelevant and unappreciated, and that in “everyone it is the same God”, then I will hold onto my special gift from God. I will use it. I will dust it off, move it around until I find the perfect place for it. And, I will find the perfect light to accentuate it’s beauty.

Just like Mom’s figures.

Do you have a special talent or gift that you’re not using right now? When was the last time you dusted it off? The holiday season is upon is. It’s not just gift-giving season. It’s gift appreciation season. Let’s you and I make a pact to appreciate our gifts – to not let the dust settle on them when they aren’t being used. Let’s find ways of repositioning our gifts where they can be appreciated – perhaps serving our local church family, a non-profit organization, a family in need, or perhaps someone who could use a friend or mentor. As we approach 2020, let’s find ways to shine a light on God’s gifts to us so that we can continue being light to others.

Written November 5, 2019

Shalom, Beauties!