Over the past few decades, I have had the privilege to work with many men women in virtually every life situation you could imagine. Consequently, I can assure you that no one wakes up and says to themselves, “I am planning to have the worst day of my life.” Nevertheless, for some of them, our paths crossed at just that time. When those moments came, I did not always have the right words to say, the right actions to share, nor the right prayers to pray. Just as it is nearly impossible to prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for the worst day of your life day, so to it can be difficult to be the friend who walks that road with those friends during that season. Nevertheless, you do the best you can and give them the gift of your presence and let God work the details out.

The gift of self is not something we often think about, but we take that gift from others and offer ourselves as that gift throughout our lives. There is an incredible dynamic that takes place when we simply endeavor to give ourselves. Sometimes we do that through sharing a call, a text, or an email; other times it may through a card, a small gift, or a bouquet of flowers. While the text, phone call or flowers may be a physical gift we are offering, what we are actually doing in those moments is giving ourselves.

When we give ourselves – the gift of self – we are giving the most costly and precious thing we have. In that moment we are saying, “The only way I can express my concern for you is to give my time, to give myself.” There are always people in your life, in your journey or just in your way, that desperately need the gift of you and even though you may be behind schedule, approaching a deadline, or in a frantic hurry to cross off the next thing on your to-do list – you always have time to give the gift of self to someone. So give it a try, you may find that in giving yourself away, you actually have more time for other things than you ever realized.

Today, live!