If you’re like me, you take more of a wham, bam, thank you Wal*Mart mentality when it comes to Christmas shopping. For me, the thought of making a birdhouse for my mom or a toy for my kids sounds like torture. And here I am, serving as one of the creatives behind a movement that encourages people to give relational gifts like these. But I’m not a builder. In fact, Bob The Builder intimidates me. The very term “arts and crafts” gives me nausea. I hate glitter. And to be honest, the thought of doing some online shopping sounds pretty sweet right about now.  But I know I can’t because I want to give people something that screams “YES! I LOVE YOU!” I want impact, substance. I want it to be real. So much of my day in and day out is surface living. Surface conversations about the weather. Surface intentions. I go to surface birthdays with a surface gift tucked under one arm, to which I receive a surface “thank you” card a few weeks later. Maybe one day this will change. And maybe this day begins this season, where I dig beneath my surface life to a life where the ol’ ticker is pumping loudly and passionately. Yes, it may happen--I just know a birdhouse isn’t going to get me there.

Last year a guy from church told us about a gift he gave his dad. It was a bag of coffee beans. A pretty sizable one too. He explained the puzzled look on his dad’s face when he opened the gift. Then he told his father he wanted to use this gift as an opportunity to know him more. He wanted to hear stories about this man’s life. His childhood. His wedding day. All of it. So, his plan was to call his dad up every Sunday night and hear a story about his life while sharing a cup of coffee made from the beans. Wow, right? See, I can do that, because I want that with my own dad. Now, maybe your relationship with your father isn’t like this. Maybe you don’t even have someone called “dad” in your life. But I’m willing to bet you have someone that you’d like to get to know more. And where glitter may not cut it, maybe something as simple as coffee beans will.

Tony