"Bring a Gift!"

It's Day 2 and I'm Stepping Out in Red Shoes.  RED high heels to be exact! 

My spiritual mama and I are headed to Tampa for an evening with the Solomon of today, Dr. Mike Murdock, founder and pastor of The Wisdom Center in Fort Worth, TX.

As a new Christian in 1983, I began attending North Providence Assembly of God.   Those were the days of my young adulthood.  I had a great pastor who mentored me, a first lady that taught me balance, friends who motivated me in ministry unto the Lord, inspiring teachers who gave me insight into God's Word, and a wonderful congregation that loved on me.

This particular church had a large Italian population, and because of that fact alone, we had to have had the best pot lucks you could ever imagine.  No event was complete without the traditional pizza slices, spinach pies, macaroni and meatballs, lasagna, sausage and peppers, antipasto and of course a variety of Italian baked goods:  egg biscuits, biscotti, zeppoles, and cannolis, to name a few.  Yeah... it was good!

As a young woman, one of the greatest lessons the ladies of this church taught me was to...

 Always bring a gift 
whenever you go to visit someone.  

It could be a plant, or flowers, a box of pastry, chocolates, a book -- just about anything -- but be sure to bring something!


Of course, nothing is expected of you.  You're a guest.  But bringing something says  "THANK YOU"  in advance.  Thank you for the invitation.  Thank you for spending time with me.  Thank you for all the thought, work, and creativity you put into this time together.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  

You can never say "Thank You" enough!  

The problem is, so often we forget to say it at all.

Fast forward thirty years.  My spiritual mentor has reminded me on several occasions, the importance of bringing a gift when you come into the presence of someone you admire.

"Always HONOR them!"  she says.  

"The wise men brought gifts when they came into the presence of Jesus.  

It's the right thing to do!"

In honoring someone with a gift, we humbly and graciously recognize their authority, achievements, expertise, accomplishments, qualities, and/or abilities.  It's a way of showing admiration.  In Romans 13:7, the Bible says we are to give honor to whom honor is due.

All that said, I was compelled to bring a gift tonight for Dr. Murdock.  Afterall, he was making a special stop in Tampa to meet with a small group of people, before going on to a much larger event in Orlando.  I've been reading his books for over a year now, and never thought I'd get the opportunity to see him in person.  If he had gone straight to Orlando, I probably would have missed out.  Gift giving seemed appropriate.

So what does one give a man who doesn't need a thing?  That was a challenge and a half.  I had to be creative.  It needed to be something from the heart.  I had a beautiful wooden box that I didn't quite know what to do with, --mostly because it was a masculine sort of box -- that was a good place to start.  Inside the box, I put a beautiful pair of brown striped, hand made socks -- Granny made them, of course!   I wrapped it up with twine and added an ornament I had made personally.  It was an old antique bottle filled with a handful of faux pearls.  There was a cork in the bottle and an old tag that said, "Pearls of Wisdom."  That seemed appropriate.  Finally I wrapped a copy of my book, The Yellow Brick Road, in brown paper and twine and added it to the gift bag.  The gift bag was a brown shopping bag from Trader Joe's.  I stuffed it with some white tissue paper and added a gold ribbon to the handles to keep it closed.  Woolah!

Are you laughing yet?  How could I think such a crazy thing.  "Really Lord?  I'm going to give "this"  to Dr. Murdock?"  True, it didn't make sense, but I had to go with my gut feeling on this.   Certainly, it would be the most original of gifts!  It was a step of faith, but I did it -- not because I felt like it, or because it was a great gift, but because the Lord prompted me to and that made it the right thing to do!  My mentor agreed.

I didn't get home from Tampa til after midnight.  I immediately kicked off my RED shoes and got ready for bed.  Taking a few moments to chat with the Lord before turning off the light, God commended me for being obedient. 

 He said the specific gift didn't really matter, 

what did matter was that I gave.

What an adventure today was!  I'm so glad I stepped out in RED shoes.

Gail