Gifts

The Extra Penny

Gifts



With May being like December in our home with kid’s birthdays, graduations, Mother’s Day and this year, baptisms, I have been thinking a lot about gifts. I keep asking my kids what they want for their birthday. My oldest is a little laid back about his while my youngest goes online and sends me links to specific things. Gifts are a funny thing. We search and search for the *perfect* thing for our children. Something we know they will love and cherish; something that speaks to them from us, something they not only need but want, but will really surprise them. We thoughtfully pick the gift and keep it hidden until just the right moment. Then, as they are opening their hand-picked treasure we are probably giddier than they, anticipating their joy and surprise. We don’t love the ‘thank-you’s as much as we love for them to cherish and use our gift.

A friend of mine recently came into a beautiful, long awaited relationship. Over the last few months she has seen more and more that this is truly a gift from God. We were discussing how we feel in the newness of relationships; excited, and scared all at once. I thought about gift-giving. God gave her this relationship, I really believe that. So how does He want to be thanked? He wants to see the joy on her face as she is opening this treasure. He picked this for her and He wants her to love this gift because He knew what she needed and wanted and found just the right one. This is what He wants for all of us in our relationships, our gifts; our children, our spouses, our parents, our families. They are such incredible gifts that we continue to open and enjoy with time and when we trust our parent, our God, to pick exactly what we need with the desires of our heart; He continually gives us amazing things to open as life journeys onward. How do we thank Him? We use our gifts. We treasure them. We love them. We don’t put them on the shelf to collect dust until a better day, we say “Way to go, God! It’s more than I ever dreamed!” and to my friend who doesn’t even have a fb page (I’ll send this to you), keep enjoying this beautiful gift, I think this may be the most amazing one yet!

Becky Wilkenson

May 15, 2012