Growing up, my mother would always ask my sister and me what we wanted for Christmas. She usually popped the question around the end of September, kicking off the magic of the season. My sister would soon deliver to my mother a rather long list of items. I felt as though we were somewhat poor, and I would be embarrassed if I asked for too much or something too expensive. So, I would tell my mother I didn’t have anything to submit.

On Christmas Day, I would be amazed when I opened my gifts. It seemed they would turn out to be what I secretly wanted in my heart or something better that I didn’t even know I wanted. I often wondered, how in the world does Mom do this every year? How does she know?

It wasn’t until I was a father that I learned her secret. She listened and she paid attention to what caught my eye in a catalog (that’s a book that would arrive in the mail with cool items for Christmas) or on TV. She knew. I started using the same technique with my own children. I have always found a lot of joy in giving someone a gift they didn’t expect.

Through my many years of walking with God, I have realized how true it is when it is written in the Bible that our Heavenly Father likes to give good gifts. (Matt. 7:11) Yes, there are times I tell him what I need, but the best gifts from Him have been the ones that surprised me.

One Christmas season, I was alone in the house, and so I went snooping. There, on the other side of my parents’ bed, was a big box. I had become a pro at slicing tape with an X-Acto knife and then replacing it with tape of the same kind and length. Under the wrapping was a 13-inch black and white TV. I thought Oh, wow! My sister is going to love this! It was the early 70s, okay?

On Christmas morning, I sat there and watched my sister open gift after gift while all I had in my pile was a new pair of jeans and a shirt. I thought perhaps I hadn’t been as good a kid as I should have, so I was okay with the disproportion of the take.

After all of the gifts were opened, and we started cleaning up the mess, my mother told my father, “Oh. We forgot one. Why don’t you go get it from our bedroom.” He did and set it down in front of me. Of course, I recognized it. I blurted out, “This isn’t mine!” “How do you know?” questioned my mother. She had her suspicion that I snooped or peeked at the gifts, but she didn’t have enough evidence that would have put me away. I said, “Because it’s so big.” “It’s yours,” said Mom. “Open it.” So, I did, and of course, I had to put on an act showing my surprise that would have won me an Oscar.

Now the gift exchange was over, and we all took our presents to our bedrooms. I couldn’t wait to get the TV out and plug it in. A few minutes later, I heard a commotion in my sister’s room. She was crying. My mother heard it, too. She heard everything in the house. She went in to investigate, and my sister confessed that she wanted the TV and didn’t think it was fair that I got one. My mother pointed out everything that she had gotten, and that she shouldn’t be jealous.

I unplugged the TV and carried it into my sister’s room. She was so happy, but my mother became furious and very firmly instructed me to take it back. I felt bad for my sister, and I didn’t totally understand then why she was acting that way. I guess we both could have used a Dr. Phil episode on siblings, in black and white.

A few years ago, my wife and I were in desperate need of about $1000. We prayed and asked God to provide. I looked at our situation, and I could not figure out a way to get that kind of money quickly. While praying again, as if God didn’t hear me the first time, I got a sense in my spirit to log into my bank’s app and look at our account balance. I did, but I didn’t expect anything to have changed from the last time I had looked at it, ten minutes earlier, but there it was. $1063.00 had been deposited into our account by my retirement fund company. I called them up and they said there had been an audit of my pension, and it found I was owed that money. I cried as I told my story to the man on the phone.

God does hear us. He encourages us to ask for what we need even though He already knows. Why? Because it demonstrates that we have enough faith in him to ask. We may not know how He is going to do it or if He will do it, but we should ask anyway. And there are times God gives us gifts that we may not need, but He wants to bless us anyway. And it doesn’t matter if the gift is big or small. Also, we should never get jealous of a gift that God gives to someone else. These days, I’m happy and thankful every time I pull back into our garage safe and unharmed after being out. Now that’s a gift! So, go ahead and give God your list even though He knows.

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