Inspired Gift Guide

The Gift MissedPsalm 34:5

For the man who found out by accident that what he gave was passed on to somebody else, and has turned that discovery into a verdict on how much he is valued. Psalm 34:5 says the faces that look up are not ashamed.

I Found Out It Had Been Given Away

Messages

A Number On A Piece Of Paper In My Drawer

Every Visit I Make Has A Job In It

I Used To Know What My Grandchildren Wanted

I Put More On That Card Than I Can Pay

I Decided A Long Time Ago I Am Bad At This

She Was Kind About It And That Was Worse

They Asked For Me And I Heard A Complaint

I Found Out It Had Been Given Away

He Never Could Give Back And I Still Mind

If I Give Only Me There Is Nothing There

My Wife Has Started Minding On My Behalf

Nine Years Of The Same Thing For My Sister

My Son Is Not Speaking To Me

I Mixed Up The Labels

The Page Is Harder To Hand Over Than Anything

Their Houses Are Full Of Things I Do Not Know

I Ask My Wife What To Give My Own Friends

One True Thing I Never Dared Use

My Hands Do Not Do What They Used To

I Keep A Ledger In My Head

Somebody Always Gives The Better One

She Asked For An Hour And I Sent A Parcel

My Sister Always Gives The Bigger One

I Have Never Made Anything Before

Whatever I Give Him Is Read As An Angle

Nobody Will Ever Know How Long It Took

I Am In The Room And On The Phone

I Put Something Beside It So It Would Not Stand Alone

I Loved It And She Did Not

I Fill Every Visit Up With Doing

My Own Child Said Nothing At All

They Were Warm And I Assumed They Were Being Kind

I Explained It Before She Even Opened It

I Cannot Name One Thing My Brother Likes

I Have Always Been The Generous One

I Accidentally Named The Thing She Was Ashamed Of

Giving To My Friend Has Become A Performance

I Have Been Rehearsing An Explanation Since August

I Knew Immediately I Had Got It Wrong

I Cooked For Them And Could Not Sit Down

Four Vague Words In A Note On My Phone

He Returns Them When I Am Not Looking

Nobody From That Church Ever Turned Up For Me

He Buys Himself Whatever He Wants

My Children Have Started Saying They Want Nothing

I Have Been Giving Upward For Years

This Is The First Thin Year After Many Good Ones

My Mother Says She Does Not Need Anything

Eleven Years Since I Gave Her Anything

I Made It And Then Panicked

I Skipped A Year To See If It Would Be Noticed

There Is Less This Year And They Will Know

I Am In The Chair And Not In The Room

Eleven Years Of Giving And Then A Funeral

I Stopped Saying Yes To Invitations

It Vanished Into A House Already Full

Everybody Knows Except The One I Give To

All I Have That He Does Not Is Time

They Always Say Anything Is Fine

She Said She Did Not Want Anything

I Buy For The Person I Wish She Was

I Stopped Giving To My Brother Years Ago

I Over Corrected The Following Year

I Stand There Every Year With No Idea

Her House Is Full Of Better Made Things

I Work The Hours So They Will Have Something

I Decided To Give Nothing At All This Year

Nobody Wants An Old Woman Afternoon

I Used To Be Able To Tell By Looking

There Is One Face I Am Dreading

We Made It Together And Then I Panicked

I Sat There And Did Nothing

She Was Carrying Something I Did Not Know About

I Think They Only Want What I Make

I Send It Because It Is Easier Than Going

It Sat In The Garage For Two Years

He Has More At Nineteen Than I Had At Sixty

The Giving Is The Only Contact I Have Left