I love to give gifts, in fact it’s one of my strongest love languages. Consequently, that means I also receive love to receive gifts as well. To be honest, I don’t know a lot of people who don’t like to receive gifts, and that’s part of what makes giving them so great. Even though outwardly some people hide it better than others, in general most people are happy and more than willing to receive a gift; especially when it’s a surprise.
Now there are some people who hate surprises. There are also others who don’t know how to receive gifts. I think it’s probably some sort of genetic personality dysfunction, inherently passed down through the generations on a chromosome somewhere in between the adenine and guanine, but regardless, surprises exist and we must learn how to deal with them.
Whenever I’m giving a gift (whether it’s a surprise or not) I always package it. Everyone does, in one way or another. Some use gift bags while some use newspaper and others use a bags or boxes of some sort. The method of packaging is irrelevant, but the intent is the same – the packaging is meant to conceal what’s inside.
In my family we have some secret codes. We have an “alert whistle” that we use whenever we are in large crowds or out in the woods. We also have inside jokes and various code words. Sometimes when giving gifts, we incorporate some of these family traditions into the gifts we give. A gift that won’t mean anything to you can have a huge personal significance to me… but this can only happen if the meaning behind the gift is understood. So then, in order to understand the gift, we must first understand the giver.
To understand the gift we need to understand the giver.
God works in this same way. Sometimes we discover His “gifts” in unanswered prayers, challenges and difficult circumstances; then we begin to question the Giver. We see a gift coming and we immediately react in a way contrary to how the gift is intended to be received, based solely upon how the gift is packaged and presented to us. We completely forget about the gift inside and forget the good intentions of the Giver (Jeremiah 29:11). We begin to criticize and critique the way He has decided to package our gift and allow the packaging to determine our beliefs about what is contained inside. Gifts are not always given based on preference, but need. We hate socks from grandma but love not spending our own money buying them.
The pile of ripped up boxes and torn apart tissue paper lies on the floor, paying homage to the presents that they once contained. So it is with the seasons of struggle we can find ourselves in. It isn’t the way they come upon us or the packaging they are in, but the gift that is contained inside of them we take away. Unless we are willing to tear through the packaging, we will never discover the gifts that are contained inside of them. Your gift is not the package it comes in, it is what’s inside. After the paper and packaging have been discarded and forgotten, your gift remains.
Every gift is wrapped in something much less valuable than it is; embrace your present (pun intended) regardless of its packaging, and enjoy what He has placed inside of it for you.
1 Comment
|