Once there was a young girl who loved her mother very much. She wanted to give her mother a special gift for her birthday, so she thought and thought and thought.  Finally, she struck upon the perfect idea.  She would buy some yarn, take some time, and knit her mother a cardigan sweater. A friend had taught the young girl the basics of knitting just a few weeks before and she was just starting to get the hang of it. She wasn’t very good at it yet, but she wanted to make something with her hands to show her mother how much she loved her.

The young girl used what money she had and bought the yarn. Then she spent every bit of spare time she had for weeks to make this special gift for her beloved mother. When the mother’s birthday finally arrived, the young girl gave her the gift she had spent so much time crafting. It was far from perfect, but the mother loved it and cherished it. She wore it every day, no matter where she went. Her daughter’s gift was precious to her.

When the next year rolled around, the young girl saw that her mother’s cherished cardigan was getting tattered with use. She decided that she would make another sweater for her mother. It was a labor of love, and the young girl was quite a bit better with the knitting needles than she had been the year before. She bought the yarn and set to work making a much nicer sweater for her mother than the last one. When the mother’s birthday arrived, she told her daughter how much she loved the new sweater. It, too, was precious to her. She set her old sweater in a special place and put on her new one. She was so proud that she wore it everywhere she went.

This became a tradition between the girl and her mother. Every year she would buy some yarn and make her mother a new cardigan for her birthday. And every year her mother would carefully set the old sweater aside and put on the new one. She loved each one she received because she knew they had been made with love by her daughter’s hand.

As time went on, the young girl grew into a young woman. Her friends grew to be an important part of her life, and school kept her very busy. She did not have the time she once had, and when her mother’s birthday came near she found that she was quickly running out of days to knit her mother’s sweater. So she went and picked out the color of yarn she wanted and found a knitter who could make a sweater for her. It cost her a little more money, but it saved her a lot of time and she still had a beautiful sweater to give her mother on her birthday. Once again, her mother loved the gift and cherished it. She wore it everywhere and displayed it with pride.

For the next several years, the daughter would employ the knitter to make sweaters for her mother. But the time came when money was short. The daughter could not go a year without giving her mother a sweater, but she could not afford for the knitter to make one, and she did not have time to do it herself. She knew she could buy a sweater off the rack for just a few dollars, so she went to the department store and purchased a cardigan in the style she had always given. Her mother seemed pleased. After all, it was still a gift from her daughter on her birthday.

This became the new tradition. Every year, the daughter would go to the department store and pick out a new sweater for her mother. She would pay a little money for it and give it as a gift. But one year, the daughter just completely forgot. She was consumed with a project at work, she was consumed with her children’s activities at home, and her mother’s birthday just passed her by. She apologized to her mother after the fact, and gave her a card with some money in it so the mother could go buy her own sweater. The mother did not complain. She bought a new cardigan and her daughter seemed pleased, too. The next year, it seemed like the easiest thing to do… so the daughter simply gave her mother a little money once again.

For her mother’s 80^th birthday, the daughter did as she had for several years and gave her mother a little money. She complimented her mother’s choice of sweater a few weeks later, but her mother was not pleased with it.

“What’s wrong with your new sweater, Mom?” the daughter asked. 

“It’s not from you,” the mother replied.

“What do you mean it’s not from me?” asked the daughter. “I gave you the money for it.” 

“But the gift didn’t come from you,” the mother said, “and it’s been that way for a long time, now.  This yarn is synthetic and made by a machine. The sweater was stitched together by a factory worker somewhere around the world. It hung on a department store rack with a hundred other sweaters that looked just like it. You did not make it for me.  You didn’t even give it to me.  So why should I cherish it?”

“I’ve just been so busy with other things!” her daughter replied.  “I don’t have the time to sit around knitting sweaters!”

“Don’t you see?”  Her mother said.  “I never wanted sweaters… I just wanted something that shows how much you love me.”

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As love wanes, so does worship. Do you love the Lord as you once did? Is He worth your time? Is He worth your talent? Is He worth your money? Where we spend our time, energy, talent, and money shows what things in life are the most important to us. What gifts do you lay at the feet of Jesus? Are they from your heart? Have you spent your time, energy, talent, and resources for Him? Or do you give Him just a pittance because you are too busy with other things?