A Gift for You

Sometimes I experience a measure of anxiety when I’m gift shopping. I worry if the person I’m shopping for will love the gift or if they’ll hate it. Even if I know the person better than myself. I don’t want it to be a waste or something that humorously turns into a re-gift. I want it to be worth it and I want the person to love and enjoy it. We tend to put a lot of care into the gifts we purchase for our loved ones. We take notice of what they like or we may see something that will be beneficial for them and we decide to buy it for them. Many reasons, all of which point to having deep affection for the people in our lives. We care and one way that we show it is with our gift giving.

...I get a little anxious when the contents are mysterious...

Similarly, this is the love that God has shown with his gift giving toward us. Some people have a tendency to think of valuable gifts as the tangible ones. It’s only worth it if a monetary value can be attached. Yet, often, sentimentality can make things just as valuable. As a child, I was gifted a gold ruby ring. I understood that it was an expensive gift, but that didn’t make me like it. Even now, I’m not a fan of yellow gold. A year or so later, my grandmother decided she absolutely loved that ring. I let her have it and she wore it every day until she passed away. After she died, I was given the ring back. Although I don’t wear it, it’s still in my jewelry box. I can’t fathom gifting it to anyone else because the sentiment I now attach to it far outweighs the monetary value. So sometimes, our gifts aren’t always about how much they are worth in the eyes of an appraiser, but instead how valuable they are to us.

We don’t always value the gifts we don’t see. How many times have we gotten up in the morning and, literally, hit the ground running. We get ourselves cleaned up, eat breakfast, and proceed to do a million and one tasks all before noon. The issues in our lives take precedence over acknowledging the provider of our life. The very reason we were able to get up in the first place. Yes, our lives may very well be filled with trouble. It may seem like we can’t catch a break from one day to the next. More important than all of those troubles is the God we live for. It doesn’t mean our problems and struggles aren’t important. It means we value God as greater than the problems we face. 

There is a saying that change is the only constant. God is even more constant than that. Even when we neglect our relationship with him or ignore his voice, he’s still providing for us. He’s still bestowing blessings on us on a daily basis. I’m sure everyone knows of at least one person who decided to cut off the gift giving because they decided the receiver was undeserving. Thank God he doesn’t do that with us. When we choose to live a life of faith, it doesn’t make our issues vanish. It means that we value Jesus as the greatest gift, even when we are going through hard times. That faith and trust in God is exactly what we need to carry us through. 

Stay Sunny!

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