Photo by Lina Trochez on Unsplash
Re-gifting has gotten a bad wrap (pun intended) for a while now. I know it is propaganda of the capitalist system that says that you should not give anything to anyone unless you bought it specifically for that person. As though the only possession that is worth giving to someone else are virgin dollars on a new gift. It is silly, but powerful on us. Many of us feel a sense of shame with re-gifting that we would never do it.
The irony is that there is Good News in re-gifting.
Christianity teaches that all things are from God and that humans are stewards of these gifts. We are stewards of money, stewards of natural resources, stewards of animals, and stewards of our sisters and brothers. All that we have is a gift.
As such, anything you give to another is a re-gift. The money you use to buy a “new gift” is a re-gift.
The Good News of re-gifting is that all of life is a gift. And in re-gifting we are reminded of that.