Skip to main content

Perfect gifts



“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1:17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I have a lot of family and friends with March birthdays, and as the years add up, it becomes harder and harder to find that “perfect gift.”
Perhaps it’s because we change so much as we pass from decade to decade, like walking through successive doors connecting room after room of its own discoveries and challenges. 

And then there is the perception that everyone else is as difficult to please as we are. We think we know exactly what we want or need, but we end up choosing things — even for ourselves — that don’t fit or function the way we imagined. Even our own plans undermine us, leading us into frustration or failure, leaving us eventually disappointed or discontented and looking for the next thing that hopefully won’t. 
We go on as if life “just happens” or happens to us instead of for us…
Angry that we had to circle back because we forgot our cell phone, only to later pass by a horrible accident that just happened —right where we would have been, if we were on schedule. 
Disappointed that we didn’t get that dream job we wanted so much, only to find out later what a toxic place it was. 
Irritated that we forgot something at the store and had to go back in, only to encounter that other cashier whose smile and encouraging words changed the course of our day — or that ours changed the course of her life. 
You see, we can make our plans, down to the minute and penny, but it’s God who tries to direct us into just the right place at the right time. (Proverbs 16:9)
We think we know what we want, but God knows what we need, even before we ask. (Matthew 6:8)
And He knows us so well, that even when we struggle to pray, when we can’t even explain how we feel, He gently draws out our vague and anguished expressions and forms thoughts clear enough to understand and answer. (Romans 8:26) Much like an attentive, loving parent understands a toddler’s babbling or a teen’s silent scowl…

We change, but He never changes. We think we know what we need, but He knows what we really need. 
Even when it doesn’t come packaged as we thought, He gives us so many perfect gifts…Even this very day, with its chill and overcast skies. I woke up. I’m breathing. I’m thinking. I’m thankful. Today is a good and perfect gift, too. 

#BackyardDevo
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Friday Frenzy

How the weeks fly by! It's Friday, already, and here we are, dizzied by the sight of our to-do lists...so many boxes, still unchecked! Where do you begin? It seems that your desk needs tidying up, your closet needs cleaning, or perhaps the fridge needs to be cleaned out. Rather than face the mountain of tasks we should be doing, we plunge into a frenzy of something I call " productive procrastination. " If it requires explanation, perhaps it's not one of your unfortunate inclinations, as it is mine. For clarification, however, allow me to define the phrase: exerting your efforts in otherwise non-urgent, comparatively mindless tasks, rather than the more urgent ones requiring your full attention. It's something we all do, once in a awhile--something I've done from an early age. The phenomenon (as I choose to categorize it, since it seems to take on an energy and behavior all its own) presents itself whenever feel unequal to the priority tasks at hand. For w...
Post a Comment
Read more

NEMESIS, TRAPS AND DIGRESSIONS, OH MY!

Let's begin at the beginning. You have challenges. You have issues. You have enemies. All of the above would be true for any of us -- from slacker to slave, from victim to hero -- but there is actually one very small but highly distinguishing characteristic: perspective. Yes, the thing that makes mountains out of molehills--and vice versa--is undoubtedly the key to success or failure, and the common thread through the story of every hero. Something interesting about perspective: it can be found, lost, and regained -- although sometimes elusive, it's always attainable.  Through the next week, we will explore the various things responsible for our lost perspective, and talk about how to get it back. I was about to say that there are three things that generally rob us of our proper perspective, but that would imply that it can be taken from us, by force. The fact is, unfortunately, we sometimes "lose" our perspective as easily as we misplace our keys, cell phone, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

When it’s too much...#INSUFFICIENT

It’s Monday again, and —-wait, how did you just react to that? Did your shoulders square up or droop? Did you take a deep, invigorating breath, or expel a sigh? Whatever you’re facing this week, whether it’s the fire-breathing dragon in the corner office, the mean girl in the next cubicle or the inadequacies you see when you look in the mirror, the fact that you’re facing the same ongoing battles over and over doesn’t make them any easier, or the outcome any more certain.  Some days you still feel like the tiny 6th-grader, overloaded with heavy books, forgetting your locker combination, getting bullied out of your lunch money, and overwhelmed by the crowd of boisterous over-achievers. There you are, just trying to get by without being run over, caught up and pulled down in the undertow. Much like the chaos and turbulence of a hallway crowded with middle-schoolers hyped up on sodas and hormones, some of the biggest rivers we have to cross are overwhelming, mind-boggling and equal...
1 comment
Read more