We bought the large cotton sack six years ago from a beautiful woman with a beautiful heart who was raising money for charity by spreading the gift of giving. On the bag, in golden letters, are the words: “What can we give to the King?”

The day after we got our sack, I eagerly took it up to the toy-cluttered room that my daughters share.

“It’s Jesus birthday soon,” I explained. “We can give to Jesus by giving toys to kids who don’t have toys. We’re going to put them in this sack.”

My one-year old looked at me blankly and then crawled away to chew on a board book. My older daughter, however, walked over to her toy bin and picked up a toy.

“I want to give this one,” she said.

I’m not sure if she fully grasped the principle but, together, we filled up the bag and put it downstairs by the Christmas tree – a gift for a King.

We talked about it often. “We give to Jesus by giving to others.”

It’s more than toys and teddy bears, however. It’s every day, in every moment, what can I give to the King? When the budget is limited and time is stretched, what can I give to the King? In the humbleness of daily life, what can I give to the King?

If I were truly honest, I’d have to admit that there is a selfish part of me that wants to hold things close. Not toys, but other things like time, money, sentimental objects, and even things that I don’t use but might need again … someday … maybe. But whenever I think of the words on the sack, my heart opens up more freely.

Because it’s true what I told my daughter. When we give to others, we are giving to Him. Whatever we do for “the least of these”, we are doing for the greatest One of all.

One woman laboured over a cotton sack, painstakingly applying gold lettering, making sure that the seams were perfect, her gift for the King.

A little girl then filled that sack with toys, her gift for the King.

As I pull out the sack again this year, I have to ask myself: What is my gift going to be? This Christmas and every day? What can I give to the King?