Grief makes me mad! It imposes on my life all the time! So I
sat down to "declutter" my life, hoping to delete all the
"mad", only to discover a precious gift.
Have you ever received the perfect gift... or have you been
given a gift that you feel you did not deserve? I think those are the best
gifts, not just to receive but also to give. However, all too often gifts are
demanded or prescribed... I know someone who said, "I am so bad at giving
gifts to my wife that I simply asked her to tell me what she wanted. I
would then go out and carefully buy exactly what she requested"... Shame
the poor thing, his life is much better he now only gets in trouble for not
wrapping it properly. You see, even if we manage to find the perfect
gift... there will always be the issue of the gift wrap.
Christ has given us the perfect gift in the perfect
wrapping. 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. Ephesians 2:8-9(ESV)
I just realized that the best gifts I ever gave were the gifts that cost me the most... don't misunderstand. I am not necessarily talking about monitory costs... I think that time, effort, thought, sacrifice, etc is just as valuable, if not more. Often we give gifts that are valued extravagant in monitory terms but has no real value to the recipient.
"Grace is a free gift of bountiful love wrapped in
faith and is meant for restoration."
Christ gave us a gift that no amount of money can ever
purchase... The gift of living! John 10:10 tells us that we can have life to
the fullest. This is a precious gift that we have the privilege of wrapping in
faith and sharing with others. The sad thing is that we too often choose to
share death... we much too easily choose break relationships rather than build
relationships. We find every excuse to say, "I have done enough, it's
impossible to save this situation or relationship, I have enough hurt of my own
I can not be meddling in somebody else's hurt. etc".
"Faith is the impossible wrapped in the conviction
that it will all work out for the best and carried in a bag knitted together by
patience."
Maybe we should face what we perceive impossible! Maybe we
should drop the gloom and depression and wrap our circumstances in conviction,
carried by patience... I Think the world can do with a few more people who are
prepared to face difficulty with conviction and is willing to see those
difficult decisions through right to the end.
Today I choose to step out in faith… Even though my heart
aches and the storms of grieve blow against me. I will wrap my impossible in
the conviction that God has my back, even if I struggle to believe that right
now.
