Sharing Time:

Give Yourself Away

By Laurel Rohlfing

“By love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13).

What gift can you give for Christmas this year that tells others that you love and care about them? What gift can you share with them that will be remembered for a long time? What gift can you give that is worth much more than anything you could buy in a store? The answer—YOURSELF!

A gift of yourself is a gift of service. It is one of the best gifts you can give, and it doesn’t cost any money! When you serve others, you are giving something that only you can give. You are giving yourself!

Jesus gave Himself by serving others. He didn’t give gifts that cost money. He blessed the sick to get well, the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the sad to feel happy.

To give yourself in service, you could share with others your love, your time, and your talents. You could serve your parents by cheerfully doing chores and by helping your brothers and sisters. You could serve at church by helping keep the building and grounds clean and orderly. You could serve the poor and needy in your community by collecting food, clothes, or other things they might need. Someone lonely or sick might enjoy a visit, a letter, or a homemade gift. You could serve the missionaries by sharing your testimony in a Book of Mormon.

King Benjamin told his people that “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17). When you bless others’ lives, you bless your own as well. So for a very satisfying Christmas, give yourself in service!

Instructions

In the next column is a list of those to whom you might want to give a gift of yourself this Christmas. Think of a way you can serve each one, and write it in the blank next to the name.

Gift List

Mother: ______________________________

Father: _______________________________

Brothers: _____________________________

Sisters: ______________________________

Grandparents: _________________________

Friends: ______________________________

Church leader or teacher: _________________

Missionary: ____________________________

My community: _________________________

My ward/branch: ________________________

Someone who is in trouble: _________________

Someone who is lonely: ___________________

Someone who is poor: ____________________

Someone who is sick: _____________________

Sharing Time Ideas

1. Review events in the Savior’s life, and have children find ways he served others.

2. Tell scripture stories of people who gave themselves away in service (good Samaritan, King Mosiah, Esther, etc.).

3. Have children make their own list of ways they can serve, then describe to each other why these gifts might be more valuable than those they could buy.

4. Plan a service project for your class or for the entire Primary.

5. Put objects in a basket or container that suggest ways children can serve others, and have younger children guess what each object stands for. Example: Hoe—gardening; plate—setting the table; book—reading to another. Children could act out ways in which they could serve others.

6. Make an outline of a simple Nativity scene for each child. As children perform an act of service, they can color or paste in a picture until the scene is completed.

Illustration by Shauna Mooney