The Greatest Gift of All

FedEx driver Aubrey Robinson comes in contact with many people each day along her rural Indiana route, one she could probably drive with her eyes closed. Her observational skills, though, are always in peak form, and she notices the most minute details of the neighbors she services.

Robinson, 38, would frequently see a young boy in the driveway of his parents’ mobile home shooting baskets with a beat-up ball and an even worse rundown hoop. On a recent day off from FedEx, Robinson decided she wanted to help the boy. She went to the Target near her home and purchased a new hoop and ball. She then assembled the basket and borrowed a truck to take it some 25 miles from her home. When Robinson arrived, no one was there, so she left the ball and hoop along with a note of instructions on a FedEx label. It said, “Just wanted you and your son to have the best hoop that’ll grow with him, and all his friends!” she wrote. “It’s wonderful that you guys shoot hoops with him.”

Naturally, when the family returned home and saw the gifts, they were surprised and shocked, having no idea who the mysterious donor really was. Yes, the note said FedEx driver, but how many people really know the names or faces of those who bring boxes to our doorsteps each day?

“When I saw the hoop, I was blown away,” Coledo Wheeler, the boy’s mom, said. “I was so humbled that somebody would go out of their way to do such a random act of kindness. I had no idea who Aubrey was, but she made me believe in people again.”

Robinson’s act of generosity is two-fold. She not only spent money from her savings under difficult circumstances, but she donated the most precious gift of all — her time. How easy would it have been for Robinson to give the family a gift card to Target and let them do the work? The family would have been grateful to receive the gift card, but Robinson would not have been as fulfilled. Her time was the real gift, her willingness to make sure that the young man did not miss one day of shooting basketballs.

This holiday season, we will spend money and send gifts. But let’s not forget the gift of our time to those we love, those who love us, and most of all, those whose lives we have helped impact from near and afar. Our time does not need to be wrapped with a bow; it simply requires a little willingness to sacrifice.

That’s the greatest gift of all.

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