how she
felt about giving at Christ-
mas. Where had she gone
wrong in teaching her
daughter the true meaning
of giving and why we do it?
There were two ways for
Emily to reply to Tyra. She
could either sit her down
and tell her that her motive
behind giving was greed-
iness, or, she could let her
learn the hard way. Some-
thing told her that Trya
wasn’t going to truly learn
unless it was a first-hand
experience. So with that, all
she said was this:
“Well if that’s the way you
want to do it, then go ahead.”
A confused expression came
across Tyra’s face and Emily
could tell she was puzzled as
to why she didn’t give her a
lecture. Tyra didn’t continue
the conversation though. In-
stead she walked away slow-
ly, obviously wondering what
had just happened.
As soon as Tyra left the
room, Emily grabbed the
phone. She had a plan and
she needed to get it into
motion before it was too
late. She knew this would be a
hard lesson for her daughter
to learn, but she also knew it
was a necessary one. Several days went
by and Emily didn’t hear much from
Tyra about the gifts. She knew she had
already given a few, but she never said
anything about getting any back in re-
turn.
Christmas even came and went
and still, Emily heard nothing; and
then:
“It’s not fair! It’s just not fair!”
Tyra said in frustration.
“What’s that, honey?” Emily
asked, already knowing the answer.
“I gave all my friends gifts for
Christmas. Nice gifts too! And what
do I get in return? Nothing! Absolutely
nothing! I just can’t believe it! Not even
Mia gave me anything. She said she
was ‘too busy’.” Tears started forming
in Tyra’s eyes. Emily sighed.
“I knew it would happen sooner
or later,” she said, almost to herself.
“What do you mean, Mom? You
mean you knew this was going to
happen?”
“Tyra,” Emily took Tyra’s shoul-
ders and sat her down on the living
room couch. “I have a small confession
to make. After you told me the reason
you were giving your friends gifts, I
called Mia and asked her not to give
you much in return.” Tyra’s eyes got
big.
“Why would you do that?”
Emily could only hope that Tyra would
eventually understand.
“Well, honey, The motive behind
why you were giving was not what it
should have been. You were giving be-
cause you wanted something in return
and that’s not what giving is about.”
Emily paused, giving Tyra a chance to
respond, but she was silent.
“The reason we give,” Emily
continued, “should be out of love. We
shouldn’t expect something in return.
Sometimes the person simply can’t af-
ford to get you anything.”
“But if you only called Mia, how
come none of the other girls got me
anything?” Tyra asked.
“Well I don’t know, but I expect
it’s because they don’t know you very
well. They might even have been sur-
prised you got them anything at all.”
Emily was quiet for a while, wanting to
let her message sink in with Tyra.
“I hope you can understand why I
did this,” Emily said, after several long
seconds of silence. “I did it because I
love you.”
Tyra sniffed a little, “Yes I under-
stand. I knew my motive wasn’t right.
That’s why I didn’t want to tell you in
the first place, but I know in the long
run, this lesson will be good for me.”
“I’m glad you see it that way.” Em-
ily smiled and pulled Tyra in for a hug.