Last Updated on 2023-01-06 by Joop Beris
The WordPress “daily prompt” of today is an easy one for me. If I need to specify what the greatest gift someone could give me is, there’s really only one thing that leaps to mind. What that one thing is? Read on below and I’ll tell you!
What is the greatest gift someone could give you?
The greatest gift that someone could give me, is actually not something material. Like so many things that really matter, it’s not a thing. No matter where we live in the world or what our material circumstances are, there’s one precious resource that is scarce for all of us: time. The greatest gift someone can give me, is a little bit of their time.
You matter
When someone gives you the gift of their time, it sends a powerful message. It tells you that you matter to them. The gesture can be something relatively small, like a customer service representative who spends just a little bit more time taking care of you than is strictly necessary. These are the interactions that you remember, not the times when a company treats you like a number.
(Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com)
Sometimes though, the gesture is bigger, more important and thus more appreciated. A message from a friend, asking how you are. A recommendation of music or a film that they think you’ll enjoy or a note about something that happened to them that they want to share with you. All of these relatively small matters tell you that they are thinking about you. A bit of their time was devoted to you, by their choice. That is the greatest gift, if you ask me.
Within families, things are a bit different. The blood ties of a family often mean that you are more or less obliged to spend time with your family. That doesn’t mean that time spent with family members is less valuable but there’s sometimes an element of duty or obligation involved which makes it perhaps easier to take for granted. Or maybe I should say that it makes the time spent with people who are not related to you, who choose to spend time on you because they want to, seem even more valuable.
A small yet great gift
If you want to give a great gift to me, or to someone else, spend time on them so they know they matter to you. In my case you could do that easily by rating this post or leaving a small comment. What do you think the greatest gift is? Let me know in the comments, please!
I raised my kids to be witty, opinionated, lawyers, detectives, cross examiners, always look at situations in another view if there could be a possible alternative answer to questions. I grilled them on this, having them think out of the box to find the truth. If my child stated the sky is blue, I would say no it isn’t, its red, look again and my child will take a second look as if doubting their original reply. I do this constantly with tactfulness and wisdom so that whatever it seems to be either is or isn’t and I want my child to know the truth on their own foundation.
The Greatest Gift is when my children drill me the same way and I have to take the second look. What joy in their eyes when they say, “gotcha Dad”.
Thank you Joop for allowing me to reflect on a joyous moment.
Hey Sam, thanks for sharing. I agree that it’s very important to teach children the skills to think critically, to analyze things for themselves and not accept things on face value.
I understand your joy as a parent when you see them put that into practice. I feel the same way!