During the holiday season just passed, many types of gifts were given, opened, delighted in, exchanged, and on and on.

For many it is a fun time to shop and get things for those we love. This year, I think I just ‘ran out of energy’ so I didn’t shop as much as usual. I think they’ll have to use ‘cash’ and do their own shopping. But I’ll admit that in years past, it was fun to try to match gifts to the persons I loved and try to the best of my ability to give them something they either wanted or needed.

If you will remember back as a child in school we learned that some words were pronounced the same but varied tremendously in meaning. For example, the words ‘presents’ and ‘presence’.

When spoken they sound very much alike, but in reality they are very, very different in meaning.

While we all enjoy a present (gift) at times, there are other times when what is even more important is ‘presence’.

When we gather together in a time of celebration and great joy or a time of sorrow and pain, the presence of those we care about makes a great difference.

Let me just cite a few examples…some work related and others more emotional issues.

For example, your group has a work project that requires many hands to do and yet only a few who said they would help show up. You are not only disappointed but at the end of the day you are often over tired and a bit frustrated. After all, they said they’d help. Where were they? Couldn’t they have at least called? I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about and have probably either experienced the same thing or even, perhaps be one who failed to meet an obligation. 

At times like that, your presence is missed and often needed very badly.

But there are other times when your presence is valued. Someone has been ill and is now shut in for a bit. You send a card and that is a wonderful remembrance. But you might also decide a visit is in order if person is able to have visitors. Speaking from personal experience, having another person give of their time to visit brightened not only my day but also my spirits.

In the time we visited, I forgot my aches and pains. We laughed and told stories about shared experiences in the past. If we are long-time friends, our memories go way back and we may be some of the few that have shared those experiences so they hold meaning. And the fact, that someone took their time to share their ‘presence’ was a gift greater than candy and flowers.

I’ll share another very for me sad and poignant experience. On the day I lost my husband, our family was gathered in the ICU of the hospital. It was apparent to all that this would be our last time with my husband and he had already lost consciousness. 

To say we were sad would be an understatement. We were devastated. Our pastor came to offer comfort and we felt blessed by his ‘presence’. Bill’s family members came and again brought love and comfort by their ‘presence’.

And, perhaps the most surprising, was the constant arrival through that long day of a multitude of international students we had hosted through the years. They were allowed to come into the unit and they too shed tears. Their ‘presence’ and their love helped us through a long and painful day.

Lest this becomes too gloomy, let me also say that their have been surprise parties, weddings, arrival of new babies, graduations and other times when family and friends have gathered and it wasn’t the presents they brought but their ‘presence’ that made the occasion so wonderful.

Speaking for myself, there have been times when I thought, “I can stay home. I’m tired. No one will miss me. I don’t feel like getting dressed up and going.”

I have stayed home on occasion and felt quite bad when someone called later to ask why I missed the occasion. I had no excuse and I was sorry.

Now, in closing, I’m going to ask one more question. On Sunday morning when it would be so easy to roll over and sleep the morning away, do we feel the need to go to church and give thanks to the God who has guided, protected, and loved us through the past week?

I don’t know the answer to that question. I don’t know what you decide. But I do wonder when we neglect that part of our lives, do you think God misses our ‘presence’.

I do.

I think I’ll close now with something that always makes me smile. Can you recall as a little child singing, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.”? We say ‘all around the neighborhood, I’m going to let it shine….hide it under a bushel, no, I’m going to let it shine.” 

Well, I’m going to take a wild stab and say when that ‘little light is shining’, we are being ‘present’ not bringing ‘presents’.