Priceless.

King David, on the future temple,

1 Chronicles 29: 14-17 The Message

"But me- who am I, and who are these my people, that we should presume to be giving something to you? Everything comes from you; all we're doing is giving back what we've been given from your generous hand. As far as you're concerned, we're homeless, shiftless wanderers like our ancestors, our lives mere shadows, hardly anything to us. God, our God, all these materials- these piles of stuff for building a house of worship for you, honoring your Holy Name- it all came from you! It was all yours in the first place! I know, dear God, that you care nothing for the surface- you want us, our true selves- and so I have given from the heart, honestly and happily..."

I got cash from Jim's wallet to hand out weekly allowances to each girl's wallet quickly, in the car, on our way to the Mall. We were about to finish our Christmas shopping, and were having a great day as a family.

We divided to conquer, and to give the girls a chance to choose their gifts for me. As I walked away with Hudson, I heard the girls give Daddy ideas of things they knew I loved, like jewelry, "Daddy, we walked by some things by the jewelry I think Mommy would really like!" and Grace mentioned earlier that day that weeks before we'd bought fuzzy socks, and I wanted a pair too, but there weren't any in my size (we were in GAP Kids, btw...), so she wanted to get me some of those very badly. They were just brimming with sneaky, excited smiles and happiness.

After meeting up again, each girl had a gift box with a secret something inside, and they were beaming with pride at choosing little somethings they knew I'd enjoy, and have taken great joy and care and keeping the contents a secret.

I discovered from Jim later that their wallets, once full, and newly refreshed with even more allowance money, were now almost empty.

They carefully chose gifts they knew I'd love, and the joy in the picking and giving of something special was more than worth the contents of their princess wallets, and their hard-earned allowances.

The money came from our hands. The ride to the Mall was courtesy of us as well. Later, dinner was on us, and the warm coats they bundled up in to go out in the cold- those came from us too. But the gifts came from their hearts, with great joy.

And that makes whatever's in those little boxes priceless to this woman.