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Small Favors



Thank goodness for small favors.

This is the time of year when advertising nudges us to make grand gestures. New cars bedecked with enormous bows. A complete kitchen renovation just in time for holiday entertaining.. A trip to Disney. A cruise. Large pieces of statement jewelry.

Yet there is something far more powerful than the big ticket items, as tempting as they may be: the small gift.

It takes a special kind of person to excel at the giving of the small gift. I spent years trying to give the most amazing, people-pleasing gifts possible. It took me a while to comprehend the sheer delight of a small gift.  It is not size alone that dictates a gift’s success - - it’s thoughtfulness, and imagination. It’s the confidence of communicating to someone that they are valuable to you without crossing the line into wanting to impress them. 

I've been thinking a lot about small gifts in the last few weeks. A friend went on vacation and brought me back a seashell. Another mailed me a care package when she heard I was sick. A visit for coffee and the gift of a blueberry biscuit restored a bit of my belief in the world during a hard week. A beloved teacher returned my email. 

Small favors. What does that expression mean, anyway? One definition I found suggests that we should 
“be thankful that something good has happened in a bad situation.”

Oh my, I have definitely been feeling the grief of being in a bad situation lately. And, without question, it is the small things that have been getting me through. It reminds me that I have the power to bring that joy to others, too. I don’t have to be a millionaire to excel at gift giving. I don’t have to wait until I can afford the perfect thing or create the perfect experience. 

Too often I live with an underlying assumption that, if you can’t be perfect, then why try? 

But we really, really need those small favors. They nourish us. They serve as signposts when the road is rough and the destination is unclear.  

There is much about the present moment that alarms me, and much about the American Thanksgiving holiday that troubles me. In the face of all that I am so very thankful for small favors and the people who have that special and very valuable knack for putting the most love in the smallest packages.




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