We received  the most wonderful book entitled, "The Red Feather."  We were so excited to read  it.    As we opened the book there was a personal note enclosed that read as follow:   Christmas 2008 Dear  Traci  &  Stephen  -   We love you so much.   Your kindness, prayers, hard work and loyalty mean more than  you will ever know.   I pray this little book, and Mother's Legacy, will bless you.  So Much Love,  Sandy & Bailey  What  a loving gesture and opening salutation!  I could hardly wait to read what was inside.   I  knew  this  was  more  than  a book to read!  It is one to hold dear and cherish for a lifetime. I think one of the most loving memories that I hold dear in my heart is when Mrs. Smith showed me a photo of her mother’s hands.  Mostly, because I’ve secretly admired her hands.  Mrs. Smith’s hands are equally beautiful.  So many times, she has grasped my hand or even your hand in love, confidence, encouragement, support, laughter, tears and most of all prayer.  Her hands are strong and yet so incredibly gentle.  I simply imagined her hands placing the red feather in the tree.  I thought quietly, “like daugher…like mother.”  As I read Dr. Ellif’s book, there were moments of laughter and moments of tears.  Each page made you feel the beat of their heart.  It is so loving.  It is even more kind. This book encouages, edifies and exemplifies a walk (more like a journey) with Christ.  First, through their mother.  Now, through Sandy’s legacy in which she leaves behind in all of her children and grandchildren.  I must add that from cover to cover…you will be in awe.  Do feathers have feelings?  I am not sure.  Yet, it goest like an old expression…”IF WALLS COULD TALK.”  What could this red feather could say? This book is truly a blessing.  I must go out and search ofr a red feather of my own - a feather to share with our household about love and forgiveness.    This book will ALWAYS be present at Christmas.  What an incredible gift!  What a word of wisdom!  Thank you for sharing Dr. Elliff.  There is an incredible ending!  Wait!!!!  A few days later, a packaged arrived at our front door.  We opened it only to find three red feathers!  Immediately, we placed them in our tree.  It was just what our tree needed too!  Thank you, Mrs. Smith!  It is one of the greatest presents we’ve received.

Red feather reminder of season of giving... 12/15/2005By Shawn Hendricks  - featured article from the BAPTIST PRESS  RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Can a red feather symbolize sacrificial giving during the Christmas season? The answer is yes for Tom Elliff and his family.   Elliff, senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations at the International Mission Board, recently shared during a chapel service how a red feather tucked underneath the angel on his Christmas tree reminds him of the true purpose of giving.   While many Americans may feel some donor fatigue after a year of giving to disaster-relief projects and needs around the world, Elliff challenged Southern Baptists to not pass on their opportunity this Christmas season to impact others through “extravagant” giving.   “I don’t mean extravagant, necessarily, monetarily, but an extravagant expression of our love for God,” he said.   Elliff shared how a red feather came to represent that type of love when he was a boy in Lake Village, Ark.   The son of a preacher, Elliff recalled growing up in a simple house built on stilts, with a few goats grazing underneath. He said there was one particular “meager” year when the family barely had anything to hang on their Christmas tree.   “All it had was some popcorn strung together and some construction paper chains,” Elliff said. “My mother kept saying, ‘It just needs something else.’”   That day, a prominent church member dropped off an expensive gift for Elliff’s mother.  The gift was a fancy green hat with a red feather. In those days, he explained, a hat was a prized gift for women since most of them wore hats everywhere they went. But when Elliff’s mother looked at the tree and her children, she plucked the feather out of the hat and stuck it in the top of the tree.   “There, that’s just what it needs,” she said.   Elliff described his mother’s actions as impulsive and selfless.   “She was more concerned about her kids and Christmas than she was about her hat,” he said.   After that Christmas, the feather was packed away with the rest of the ornaments in a grapefruit box, and it became a fixture on the tree for years to come.   “That feather had witnessed everything we had done, all the changes of the seasons, and the kids and their new spouses and grandkids,” Elliff said. “(It was) a constant reminder to us of the time when God stepped back and looked at the manger and said, ‘There, that’s just what that world needs.’”   Through the years, the feather became worn and a little diminished in size, Elliff said. He compared the feather’s condition to that of his mother’s weakening health after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Soon after his mother died, the feather disappeared from the grapefruit box.   “It was almost as if my mother was saying, ‘It’s time for you kids to participate in your own extravagant, impulsive, unselfish love,’” Elliff said.   Years later, Elliff told a friend about the red feather. That Christmas he received a package on his doorstep. Inside a box was a red feather with a note from his friend. The note read, “You’re right, Tom.  It’s your turn, and here is your feather.”   To this day, a red feather can be found on Christmas trees in the homes of the Elliff family and other friends. Elliff concluded his story with a poem:   What? Giving again? I ask in dismay Must I keep giving and giving away? “Oh, no,” said the Lord, looking me through But do keep giving until I stop giving to you.   --30--