$9,999.00

Suppose that someone gave you a gift of $9,999.00.

You would not have to pay income taxes on that gift. It is a free gift and not earned income.

OK, suppose some gave me a gift of $9,999.00, I would not have to pay income tax, Ginny—she’s an accountant—says the tax has already been paid by the giver. The recipient enjoys the gift, tax free.

Unfortunately, no one gave me $9,999.00 for Christmas this year.

Instead, one of the kids presented me with this:

It is a lovely electric rat in a coffee mug.

When I lift my mug, the rat squeals and kicks his feet and thrashes his tail trying to back out of the mug.

Hey, it’s the thought that counts.

Right?

At Eve’s party the other night, our kids showered many such lavish gifts on us. (Eve tells about her shindig on her blog today at http://www.eveyq.blogspot.com/ ).

A lady in a parking lot yelled something that got me to thinking more about gifts yesterday afternoon when Ginny and I stopped at a department store to buy some batteries.

As we approached the store, we passed a family coming out into the parking lot. A sullen teenager lagged behind his harried mother. The irate woman shrieked at him, “That’s what you’re getting! You asked for three presents, and you’re getting three damn presents”!!!

Nothing like family togetherness for the holidays.

A gift originates with the giver.

What that gift is comes at the giver’s discretion.

The recipient is just that, a recipient. He can be grateful for the gift, regard it with indifference, or reject it according to his nature.

Our kids gave Ginny a delightful gift. Here’s a photo:

My photo can not do it justice. It’s about a foot long and all those things dangling from the dorsal fin are bells that tinkle when you move it.

Ginny is the first on our block to own one.

She’s the envy of all who see it.

This morning Ginny woke at 4 a.m. with me this morning and we talked about taxes. She says the gift limit has been raised to twenty thousand dollars. You can receive that much without having to pay income tax on it.

The gift comes free because you have not earned it; the giver paid for it before you even knew he was giving it to you.

If you work and earn, then the person who hands you $9,999.00 is merely paying a debt. That is not a gift; you’ve earned the cash and you have the bragging rights to how worthy you are to get such a sum.

It’s only a gift if you have done nothing to deserve it.

See where I’m going with this?

St. Paul said, “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast”.

Salvation comes tax-free. Christ, the giver, has already paid everything that needed paying. He paid for it on the cross.

We can accept His gift with gratitude, reject it with resentment as not something we really wanted, or ignore it with indifference—to our peril.

Like the old hymn says, “Jesus paid it all; All to Him I owe”.

It’s a good thing gifts come free.

Otherwise, just think of all the tax I’d have to pay on my Squealing Rat In A Mug. Or what Ginny would owe on her tinkling, flowered, yellow and purple fish.

Some gifts are priceless.