Gifts Unopened

Planning

It’s Christmas time.   Albeit Christmas in a pandemic which means a season with new set of  planning  and execution challenges. Therefore, as a result of the pandemic,  I met the challenge via online shopping and reimagining gifts.  Little did I know that online shopping  translates to hours of research and planning.   No more impluse buys after walking past department store displays.  This year more than ever I want the gifts I give to  bring a smile, joy, and be used.  

God’s Gift

Christmas is the time of year that reminds us that God has given us a gift; his Son, Jesus our Emmanuel. God had planned for a very long time to give us perfect gift and wants us to take; to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  Yet how many will not accept this gift?   If we do acknowledge the gift is it for a brief time?   Too often we bring out God’s gift like a seasonal decoration and return to storage until next year.  God gave us a second gift too, it is the Holy Spirit.  God gave us these gifts so that we will take and use the gifts daily, depend and rely on these gifts, and be filled.

After the Wrapping

After Christmas morning when the gifts are unwrapped, I admit that too often  I use a gift briefly, then forgotten, or I become busy and another project occupies my time.  This Christmas, I pray that I truly use God’s gifts.  Let me share His love, sing joyfully, pray without ceasing, and I will fill my heart first with the Holy Spirit.  Afterall, what good is a gift if it is unused? 



God Does Not Tire

Tired and Weary

No doubt about it, this was a tense and anxious week;  election, coronavirus spiking across the world and in our towns, hospitals nearing capacity, family who are sick (though not with Covid), and the constant struggle of life balance.  I, like the rest of our nation, am weary, tired, and in need rest.
 
Relief
And so  it came as  a  welcomed relief to experience our first significant rainfall (for our area)  in seven months!  It is after the rain and in the quiet of the morn,  I  feel  peacefulness all around.  The songbirds are singing while fluttering about and playing in the remnants of a puddle. The air is crisp,  my breath visable  as  I stood  in the midst of my garden,  I sense  God’s restorative hand at work. The feeling of tranquility makes me linger.
 
God Never Tires

I recall Isaiah 41:28 “God never grows weary or tired”.  I smile and realized that when I change my perspective and focus my thoughts towards the Lord, not only can I  witness the beauty of His creation  but  my weariness  has lifted.  Isaiah 41: 31, “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount with wings like eagles; they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. ”