In the course of a conversation with a friend last Saturday, she mentioned that she and her husband were going to the symphony that evening. The excursion was her valentine gift to him. Laughing, she said he tried to talk her out of it, as he had planned to stay in that night to watch the Budweiser Shootout, popping the top on a beer and enjoying the preludes to the Daytona 500.

Needless to say, he went out that evening.

The conversation did, however, get me to thinking about gifts. While my friend wanted to give her husband something special for Valentine's Day, the gift was really something she wanted, not something specifically tailored to his tastes.

The perfect gift is about the recipient, not the giver. The gift is designed to meet your love's wants and desires, not your own, to give them pleasure, not yourself. No matter what it takes to track down the last remaining baseball card to fill out a particular team, no matter how little you want to join your love at a hockey game, you make the sacrifice because this person is special to you.

Inevitably, my thoughts turned to the one truly perfect gift.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 (ESV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Eph 2:8-9 (ESV)

Jesus is indeed the perfect Valentine gift.