A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver. (Thomas A. Kempis, 14th-15th century churchman)

Whether it’s Christmas, your birthday, Valentine’s Day, or a surprise, everyone likes to receive gifts. With children it’s the gift that matters, not the giver. Soon after the gifts are unwrapped, they have forgotten who gave them. More mature receivers consider what the gift and the giver means to them. It isn’t the size or the value; it’s the expression of the love of the giver.

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. … We love because he first loved us (John 3:16, 1 John 4:19).