Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Archives for October 2012

Warms the heart like a cup of tea: Review of A Wreath of Snow by Liz Curtis Higgs

I know, I know, October isn’t even over yet and already I’m reviewing another Christmas book. I was reluctant to jump right in to the holiday of holidays when the colors of fall are still showing, but as is the case with nearly every Liz Curtis Higgs book, I’m not sorry.

Her Victorian Christmas novella, A Wreath of Snow, set in Scotland in the late 19th Century is as comforting as a cup of cocoa (or tea or coffee) on a cold winter’s night. In a couple hundred pages, Higgs spins a yarn of family tension, regret, guilt, forgiveness, and unexpected blessings knit together with the hope and joy of Christmas. I’ve not sought out Christmas stories or novellas in the past, but Higgs has made me a fan of both!

A Wreath of Snow is a quick read. Should you find yourself snowbound or with a free afternoon or evening in the coming months, I’d wholeheartedly recommend picking up this book, curling up in your favorite chair and sipping a hot drink. I’d read this one again and again.

Get a sneak peek here.

Or watch the trailer below.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/8ag6Q9DDSpo]

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In exchange for my review, I received a copy of the book free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

The gift of receiving

Years ago, when I was attending Bible study regularly for the first time, we talked about spiritual gifts–things like teaching, discernment, encouragement and giving. I remember our leader at the time joked that he had the gift of receiving. We laughed, of course, because really, who wouldn’t want that gift?

In recent years, I’ve discovered that there just might be a gift to receiving. Or maybe it’s an art.

Here are a couple of ways NOT to do it:

  • Someone brings you unasked-for gifts for your children and you notice that the puzzle for your son is one he already has. Definitely do NOT tell the person, “Oh, he already has that one.” Unless of course you enjoy crushing people.
  • You receive a gift at a birthday party and you already have it. Do NOT be rude by tossing it aside and announcing, “Oh, another one.” See the previous example about crushing people’s spirits.

Both are true stories. Both perpetrated by me. I was an elementary student when one of them happened. The other, it was yesterday. So, see I still have a lot to learn about receiving.

Our family is in a season of receiving, which sounds really selfish and greedy when I write it that way. But it’s true. In the last four years, we have received everything from child care to  food to money, all given in love, without condition or thought of repayment.

Based on some of the things people have said when they were giving us things, I could add a couple more “do nots” to the previous ones.

  • Don’t be ungrateful. Say “thank you” no matter what it is. If it’s something you wouldn’t or couldn’t eat or didn’t like, don’t embarrass the giver by telling them that. Our family isn’t picky when it comes to food, so I can’t think of anything we’d turn down. And we definitely wouldn’t ask the person to return it and get us something else. A gift is a gift, and the intentions are likely good. Pass on the blessing if you find yourself with something you can’t use.
  • Don’t make a fuss or pretend you don’t need help. Some people will just give you money or food and not ask first if they can. I like these people because they go ahead and do what they feel led to do. Others will say, “Is it okay if I …?” and that sometimes makes it  harder to say, “yes.” Even if it’s embarrassing or humbling, let people help you. I can’t imagine turning down help when we truly need it. It doesn’t get easier, but there are times when you’re in need to the point that you can’t say “no.”

In this season of receiving, we’re also learning how to give. To hold things loosely, as people like to say. To bless others out of the abundance we have. We might not be able to give someone the money they need but we have an attic full of kids’ clothes, so we’re finding homes for those. In the obscene wealth of this country (as compared to other countries) there is always something to give. We exchange child care with another family–gifts of time.

And because we’ve received, we feel an obligation, a responsibility, to give in the future to those who face the same situations we’ve faced: graduate school with a young family, pastoral ministry, unemployment, underemployment. We won’t limit our giving to only those, remembering “to whom much is given, much is required.”

I’ve seen people graciously receive, and I’ve seen them ungraciously receive. And I’m somewhere in between, still learning what to say and how to say it.

What would you add to the list of how not to receive? What have you learned about giving?