3 WAYS TO SPEAK MY LOVE LANGUAGE: Gift Giving

The Encompass Outreach Group is going through a blog series on the 5 Love Languages!  For our last week, in this series we're excited to hear from Kristen Davis on gift giving. 

By: Kristen Davis

​Gift giving is one of my love languages. I typically don’t like telling people this because it can be assumed that receiving gifts is just as important to me. Well, as much as I do enjoy receiving a gift, I’d much rather bless another person. It is, after all, much better to give than receive. I am blessed to be a blessing, and this ultimately fuels my gift giving.

I love to give surprise gifts where the person never even knows it was me! Maybe pay for a family’s dinner unbeknown to them or deliver Christmas packages when the people are not home. I understand how much I’ve been given in this life and want to share that same joy with others. I get an amazing amount of excitement and feel so refreshed when I drop off donuts and coffee to the local first responders or shelter to let people know how appreciated they are. 

Gifts for a Stranger

• I remember many times working as a nurse in the hospital on Thanksgiving and Christmas and there would be families or church groups that would come in to give us cards and sweets. This would bless me so much! They didn’t even know me, but they cared enough about me to take the time out of their special day to show love and kindness to a stranger! Those are the memories that I hope I can produce for other people.

 
Picked Just for Me

• I always loved to open gifts on my birthday or Christmas, and my parents were great gift givers. Those were the times I saw my dad get excited, and a little giddy if you will. My dad was never one for hugs and quality time, but I knew when I opened that special gift just from him on Christmas, that he really loved me because he picked it out all on his own and was so excited for me to open it. Maybe this memory influenced gift giving as a love language of mine.

 
A Peace Offering

• My mom, on the other hand, would buy me things as a way to make amends. Instead of talking about our disagreement she would buy me a new shirt. Who doesn’t love a new shirt? Maybe she knew that was my love language. Often, we are a product of our own environment. I love to bless my family with the best gifts I possibly can, and I love to receive gifts that are just as thoughtful.

I end with this thought: Matthew 7:11 says “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him!” James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” God is the giver of all good things, the author of life, and the original Gift Giver. I want to love like Him. 

According to Dr. Gary Chapman every person has a "love tank" that is filled up when others "speak their love language".  Encompass Connection Center offers a free survey to help couples determine their love languages.  What are yours?  ​
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