Tis the Season...for Re-gifting?

On this third day in the run-up to the Marine Corps birthday, I am struck by the magnitude of focus this time of year on holidays. We are so very blessed in Autumn, when the leaves start to fall and the chill fills the air, to have reasons to celebrate. The late night crowd kicks us off with Halloween and its fun, costumes, and candy galore. Then we die-hards start the march up to the Marine Corps birthday. It's a 10-day countdown that celebrates the fiercest, most feared fighting force since the army of Genghis Kahn. Marines are barely sober when families gather and we remember as a nation the many things we have to be thankful for. We take reprieve to remember loss at Pearl Harbor, then it's here. Christmas. The Season of Giving rolls through the end of December with every Christian's favorite holiday - the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

But Christmas is also a time for...ahem...regifting. I'm not bashing the practice. On the contrary, I celebrate regifting as an extension of responsible stewardship and recycling. You've had your fun with something, now it's time to let someone else have their turn. Regifting is a great way to share something that has more lifecycle left than it does utility in its current place.

At this point you are probably asking what regifting and the plethora of holidays has to do with servant leadership. Well, I'm glad you asked.

"Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:16-17, NKJV)

Some of you may recognize that passage as Peter's defense of God's grace to the early Church. For those unfamiliar with the story, Peter was forced to justify God's choice to give eternal life to everyone, not just his chosen Israelites. It seems funny to us that anyone would have to justify God's gift of eternal life to anyone, but we humans do have our flaws - and jealousy is one of them.

But what does Peter's defense of grace have to do with servant leadership or regifting?

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ," (Eph 4:11-12, NKJV)

God gives each of us gifts, and like something we've reshared with family or friends, regifting is a blessing.

Right about now someone is putting it together. God gave you a gift. It may be the gift of management or the gift of listening. Maybe God blessed you with the ability to see a clear path through the chaos of the moment or the ability to work long hours when everyone else has given up. As a servant leader, it is our job to take the gifts that God gives us and "regift" them to anyone who will receive it.

Servant Leader, we regift all the time. When we change jobs, we are regifting all the skills we learned from our previous mentors to those in our new company. When we are assigned a new project that is in trouble, we regift the team and the customer with the abilities God has given us through nature and nurture. When we celebrate a hard fought win, we regift our labor to whomever has the challenge of operating the job. And when we welcome a new leader, we regift God's grace as we help them work through new ways of doing business.

So, the next time someone opens a gift at Christmas that you recognize as something you gave a few years ago, recognize it for what it is - an extension of the happiness you originally gave. That is, unless it's that same green crockpot that makes its rounds to a new recipient every Christmas. That's just plain fun.

God bless, Servant Leader, and happy 3rd day of the Marine Corps birthday prep!

Semper Fi, Servant Leader!