We’re rolling into the holiday season. I mean, the Christmas decorations are already out at popular retailers. One local radio station leapt straight to all-Christmas songs all of the time shortly after Halloween was marked off of the calendar. It’s a short sprint into the end of the year. Thanksgiving will be here soon, and then Christmas. Deck the halls.

And because Thanksgiving is supposed to be about gratitude, and because Christmas is so associated with gift-giving, I find myself thinking about what I could do to add to the lives of people around me. And, inevitably, I also circle back around and think of the quiet debts I owe to people in my life who, either recently or some time in the retreating past, overwhelmingly blessed my life in one way or another.

Both are challenging at times, giving gifts and paying debts. Both require thoughtfulness, and both require sacrifice. But in both activities, we are at least focusing on other, and on the value they have in our lives.

My list of debts, if truly catalogued, would be extensive. And the challenging part of it comes knowing that, for some of the folks who helped you out or met a great need in your life, you will never have anything close to what you need to give them to compensate for what they did, or have done, for you. I have a few of those situations that gnaw on my mind lately. I cannot compensate a few specific people adequately enough (monetarily) to show them my gratitude for their kindnesses in my life- and that bugs me. I could not repay one of them for a long time, even if I could give them $100 a month for a while. My debt to that guy is that big.

Which is where, then, the best strategy I can come up with to validate the kindness of my benefactors is to try and be like them to others in my world: to give excessively to those in my life that have needs I can help meet.

Giving is challenging. It requires some sacrifice. It requires some creativity. But it also requires some awareness, and a willingness to even ask at times “What can I do for you?”, which is a commitment once asked all its own.

I am not tightly tied to things. I could give up whatever of my possessions if I needed to. It’s just sometimes I am just too lazy to really look around myself and to take the steps necessary to practice giving. Because to give, you also have to simply see other people in your life, and want to encourage, empower, enrich, or entertain them.

Gifts and debts. Gifts and debts.

I hope I can give a little more this holiday season, if only because it will also help me to appreciate what others have done for me over the years that I’ve not been able to repay. I have been greatly helped by others contributing into my life over the years. I would like to honor them by being a generous giver as well, letting my kind actions to others echo the generosity that has been shown by others to me. It’s always just the challenge of figuring out what I have that I can give to benefit another that’s the work of the exercise at this time of year.