Mysterious Easter

The other day I sat in a coffee shop and watched people rush past.  Here and there, to and fro.  The great philosopher Socrates said, "Beware of the barrenness of the busy life."   But, sadly, this is how we often live. The modern world rushes on and we let ourselves be robbed. We think we're wise, but we're foolish.  We think we're something special in our progressive, 'enlightened' state, but we're just proud.  We think we're accomplishing, but we often miss out.

We spend our whole lives trying to become more wise, more knowledgeable, more in control of our own destiny while one of the mysteries of the gospel is the exact opposite; we must become like a little child (Matt. 18:3).  We must let go of our own self-sufficiency to truly enter into Him, to trust, to grow.

I, for one, don't enjoy this painful process, but I do like the results.  Becoming closer to Him.  Becoming a better conduit of His love.

It seems like a strange thing to ask, this becoming childlike, but something that He Himself was willing to give.  Our example, the Creator of the universe as a tiny helpless babe.....

Oh, how He loves us.

I don't understand this humility.  It's foreign to our natural state.  I struggle to live it out within my own little community of well-loved family and friends, let alone being like the Perfect One abused and dying for the masses.....

"Christ died for all men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it."  

(C.S. Lewis)  

Masses of millions lying, cheating, hurting each other.  Many just living for the betterment of themselves.  A huge comfort to me while living in Kolkata was the thought that while the pain that I saw on the streets every day shredded my own heart, how much more bloody the heart must be of the Omnipresent One who sees it ALL everywhere.  Fellowship in suffering.

Oh, how He loves us.

But love can be distorted and misunderstood,  "Because fellow humans who are supposed to love us well don't always do a very good job, we project that inadequate human love onto God.  If we could ever begin to truly grasp the depth of the love God has for us, it would forever change the way we view him, the plans he has for us, and the way we see ourselves."  (Kay Warren)  Instead we need to, "fix(ing) our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." (Heb. 12:2)  Other versions say, "the champion," "the author," "the source," "the founder," "the leader," "the maker of faith."  That's Who we need to gaze upon.  We need to develop the habit of keeping our eyes on Him more than we do on the problems around us.  Where are your eyes today?  Looking at problems and pain, or fixed on the One who is the solution?

"God and love are synonymous.  Love is not an attribute of God, it is God.  Whatever God is, love is." (Oswald Chambers) If we spend a lifetime seeking Him we will only scratch the surface of Who He is, and therefore, what is love.  

And, oh, how He loves us.

He loved us as the Creator, as that helpless little babe, as the Savior on the cross, as the Author of our faith.  He loves us in our helplessness, in our pride, in our selfishness, in our greed; our imperfection.  He love us in our struggles and through our lack of trust, lack of faith and through the minefield of doubt.  He loves us to the Cross and back....

He will never, ever love us more than He does right now----and He will never, ever love us less.   Pause and reflect, embrace that this Easter.  Embrace Him.  

"But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins, 

He was beaten so we could be whole.

He was whipped so we could be healed.......

......When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, 

he will be satisfied.  

And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins."  (Is. 53:5,11)

Because of love.

Wake up......

Recently my daughter Hannah had a crazy busy day at work after an already busy week.  She was the barista that day at the cafe where she works.  They were short staffed and the orders lined up in front of her were getting covered up by a second row of orders.  Every customer service job worker's nightmare!  She decided that she had a conscious choice.  She could sit down and give up, or she could take a deep breath, say, "I can do this," and keep on keepin' on.

In a job the choice is obvious.  You've got to keep going or loose the job!  But in life in general that choice isn't always as black and white.

When seasons of life have tough things in them, when the hard things seem to go on and on, the natural human response it to let ourselves go numb.  When we've had enough of misery, stress, tears, insomnia, moments of panic, or things that steal our joy; we just want to protect, insulate, avoid.......

We're weary.

It's often not that everything is horrible, there's always good, but when we feel like a punching bag for the jabs of life, soreness makes the rest hard to find.

I'm getting over yet another sinus infection with bouts of vertigo.  My little gift from Calcutta that keeps on giving!  It's been a while since the last one--improvement!-- and I've been trying to get rid of it though natural remedies.  But the other day I realized that a couple of weeks of trying to 'solider on' and ignore the pain had made me emotionally numb / alternating with just plain fussy, so for the sake of those around me I've resorted to antibiotics.  With this on top of other things in life, I've found myself a little bit lifeless lately.

It took an online chat with a friend from Calcutta to get me out of my funk.  We've supported each other through some tough times.  She knows me and what makes me tick and said, "Spend some time taking care of your own needs, not just other people's.  Get out and take a walk on the beach or something."  In other words, "Go admire the work of your Creator."  Or, "Stop mindlessly navel gazing and look Up."  She was right.  Sometimes at first glance it seems easier to just stay down when the first step out of the numbness is actually pretty simple.

Now I'm trying to 'wake up' again.  Wake up to joy.  Wake up to happiness.  Wake up to life.

How quickly we can numb.

Being numb may help us avoid pain, but it cancels out the good stuff as well.  Brene Brown said this in her TED Talk, "The Power of Vulnerability":

"You can't numb those hard feelings without numbing those other effects and emotions (the good stuff).  You cannot selectively numb.  So when we numb those, we numb joy.  We numb gratitude. We numb happiness.  And then we are miserable and we are looking for purpose and meaning.  And then we feel vulnerable so we have a couple of beers and a banana nut muffin.  And it becomes this dangerous cycle."

While our tendency is to avoid, that's not how we're meant to live.  Numbing to the negative also makes us numb to the One who is the Author of all joy.  If, "The joy of the Lord is your (my) strength,"  (Nehemiah 8:10) then if we're being robbed of joy, we're being robbed of our strength as well.  Another dangerous cycle.

There is always joy, because there is always Him.  There is always the promise of something better, the promise of redemption, the promise of Heaven.  "Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart because I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33)  There will always be pain in this life, but the many pleasures that He DOES grant us here are prophetic glimpses wetting our appetite for the perfect life to come----where pain ends.  And His Presence is walking beside us even now.  Always.

God is the Source of joy, but when Adam and Eve sinned what was the first thing they did?  They hid:  from God, from their nakedness, the consequences of their actions, their vulnerability.  The hid from the One Thing that could make them whole again.

And He did.  He does.  He came.  He died.  He lives.  He has "overcome the world."

Cause for worship.  For meditation on His Holiness.  For allowing the shadow of our 'light and momentary troubles' to disappear in the light of His Grace.  His Sacrifice.  His Love.

Breathe it in.

One of my friends took this.  If it was you please remind me who you are so I can give you credit!

When life gets to be too much, when becoming numb seems like a really good option, when our joy is fleeting and for whatever reason our hope is dim; there is still HIM.  There is still peace in His presence.  There is still joy. And we can find that, not by hiding, not by numbing ourselves, but by walking in worship---straight into Him.

In astonishment and awe for all that He is, for all that He does, and for the life we find in Him. WAKE UP!

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me;  Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."  (Ps. 23:4)

"Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and song and He has become my salvation."  (Is. 12:2)

"So do not fear, for I am with you;  do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you;  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."  (Is. 41:10)

"You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me;  you stoop down to make me great."  (Ps. 18:35)

Being Serene

I've been thinking about serenity lately.  Finding that place of peace and rest.  The calm in the storm, getting the most out of this moment.  And this one.  I've been consciously listening to laughter from the next room, looking at rolling hills, memorizing the faces of loved ones, watching the antics of this long awaited pet who definitely enjoys life in the NOW.

Adam doesn't remember having a pet so is loving our kitten Moli (Fijian spelling)!

Not that life has stopped--it hasn't!--but we need to find those moments when we can.  Planning them, instigating them, choosing them over the instant, the things that just distract us.

I have a fireplace for the first time since I was a child and for someone who finds serenity in watching sunsets, ocean waves, fish tanks, and fires this is an exciting thing!  I prefer the sun but am looking forward to winter this year.

Our stove all ready for winter minus the wood and the cold.  

It's put me in a nesting mode and for the first time in ages I've picked up my crochet needle to make a blanket/afghan.  There's a release in creativity and something good happens inside when you sit there doing something routine like that.  It gives you time to think, unravel tangled thoughts, pray.  The other night as I was crocheting by the 'fire'--my lit candle on top of the stove!--Rachel came home and teased me about the 'old lady' sitting there.  She then commented about how no one her age knows how to do things like that.  That their lives are filled with a continual stream of 'entertainment' instead of movies, things online, etc.

I don't do well very long living like that.  I think most of us are probably that way.  If we don't dial down now and then we don't process.  If we don't process we live stressed and don't even realize the parts of us that need to change; the places were we're anxious, have bad attitudes, don't recognize the needs of others.  Just generally what we need to do to live life better, more content and fulfilled, and ready to be used by Him as well.

I recently saw a Humans of New York Facebook post with a photo of a homeless man in a wheelchair.  The dialogue with the photo went:
"I think I'm the happiest when I'm broke.
"Why's that?"
"Because I can always find a good meal.  But when I'm broke, I can't afford to do the things I shouldn't be doing."

Profound really.  In a society that is rich financially we often find ourselves truly poor because the easy 'fix', whatever that may be, crowds out what's really important and sometimes actually harms us.

There are times that it's impossible to stop for any length of time.  But to live long-term with the pressing overwhelming the precious is a tragedy.  We miss out.  We aren't good for ourselves or others.  We live on a starvation diet, barely getting needed nourishment from our Source and the Great Relationship of our lives grows cold.  And our human ones follow.

We're all unique and have to find balance.  I need to do something that makes me sit still for a bit and calms me.  Steve needs to do something active like work on an engine or putter in the garage.  I admire people who can produce things like great food or a work of art while they're getting in touch with their Creator.  I find it interesting  that all religions and creeds have an element of this.  Finding their 'zen', their place of peace. It's a basic human need.

I, like many, am very tactile and generally influenced in all my senses by things around me.  Certain environments are harder for me than others, so I've had to learn ways to 'settle' in order to focus on Him. While I'm not into doing ritualistic things for the purpose of tradition alone, I find that certain routines help. One of my current favorites is praying with a small wooden cross that I hold in my hand. As soon as I pick it up, the feel of it in my hand, the visual of being reminded of my Redeemer, helps me shut down the things around and focus on Him.

It's getting in touch with who we are each uniquely created to be and operating in that.  It's letting it be OK to be who we really are in Him.  It's how HE made us!  How He wants us to come.  Uniquely individual. One person in billions, but one cherished individual to Him.

The world is bent and broken.  What seems to satisfy for an instant actually leaves us thirsty for more.  We need to dial down, reconnect with our need for Him and find the balance of true serenity before it's too late.  Before busyness is just a habit and the space in between is filled by all that is empty and meaningless.  And life just passes by.

"Yet I am always with you;  you hold me by my right hand.  You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory."  (Ps. 73:23-24)

We need to do what it takes to LIVE.  Forever doesn't start in some distant far off time.  If you are living and breathing today, your forever has already started.

photo credit Christine White

Ultimate Compulsion

If you've ever watched someone you love walk through an addiction or experienced one yourself you know how terrible they can be.  Earth shatteringly difficult.  All consuming.  Life controlling.

By the grace of God I've never experienced a major addiction, but there are times I've had to tell myself more than once to shop 'bargain' shopping, stop eating more than what I really need, stop staying up too late at night reading.  We can all relate and I'm sure you can add a few of your own!  Small compulsions that could easily become an addiction.

It seems that part of our human condition is addiction and compulsive behavior, a weakness because we are often drawn to things that harm us. Seems like I've been hearing One Republic's song "Counting Stars" everywhere I go lately.  The chorus says:

I-I-I-I-I feel something so right 

Doing the wrong thing

I-I-I-I-I feel something so wrong

Doing the right thing

I could lie, couldn't I, could lie

Everything that kills me---makes me feel alive.

Sounds familiar?  Paul says the same and sums us up here:

"I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.  But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  I want to do what is right, but I can’t.  I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it."   (Romans 7:15-20)

Yup, human nature and sin that harms us have been around for a looong time.

What would happen, however, if we could turn our compulsion towards Him?  If HE becomes our greatest desire, our passion, our source of survival?  I hate how this is so hard when negative compulsions are so easy.  But it seems that we usually have to fight for anything truly worthwhile.......

We don't have to be controlled by our compulsions.  Someone who struggled with addictions once told me that he had to, "Live harder for God than I ever lived for the world," to overcome his addictions.  It's hard to go against the thing that "makes me feel alive," momentarily for the thing that will actually make me alive for eternity.  We have to go against how we feel to change how we act. 

Kay Warren said, "What we think determines how we act, and how we act determines how we feel.  I was operating on the belief that I needed to feel differently before I could think differently.  But the formula is reversed.  Our thinking changes first, our actions come next, and our feelings follow."  

Think-Act-Feel.  The battle is in our mind.

"Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart."

(Ps. 37:4)

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

(Jer. 29:13)

If we delight ourselves in Him, then He will be our delight and the desire of our heart.  And we will have what we desire-----Him.  It's not a 'God will just give me what I want' scenario, it's our hearts changing to what will truly satisfy us.  Filling the deepest parts of us with something that will LAST.

Any other compulsion or addiction is a shallow, hollow copy not even worth our time.  

"For the Lord your God is living among you.  He's a mighty savior.  

He will take delight in you with gladness.  

With his love, he will calm all your fears...."  (Zeph. 3:17)

"...I still belong to you;  you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

I desire you more than anything on earth."

My heart may fail, and my spirit grow weak, 

but God remains the strength of my heart;

he is mine forever."  (Ps. 73:23-26)

Be our desire. Ours forever. Our biggest compulsion.  Our greatest joy.

You.

Hollowed and Hallowed Hearts

I recently listened to a friend tell part of their life story.  It's been a while since I've heard something so unfair, so hateful, so hard, so, just, wrong that's happened to someone who's followed God faithfully for so long.  It makes my sense of justice scream out, "No!" Or makes me at least just want to slap the person who caused it really, really hard.  (Good thing I'm not God! But I remember that people who hurt have been hurt as well.)

But while this person has endured the winds and storms of life and past events still affect today in ways, they also have a lot of traits of, "a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither." (Ps. 1:3)  Strong, steady, a person of depth, who knows the Source and has a huge heart for others.

I've long since let go of the idea that being a Christ follower makes you immune to the problems of this world.  'Victory' and being an 'over-comer' look quiet different than how they are often presented.  It's often more importantly about the destination inside than visible external victory.

But I have a lot of questions:  Why do the 'good', the innocent, the humble, the helpless have terrible things happen to them in this world?  Elisabeth Elliot who has walked a convoluted road herself wisely said, "Faith does not eliminate questions.  But faith knows where to take them."

To His throne. To His feet.  And I think it's about the expansion of our hearts.

We're in a stage of regrouping and reorganizing.  What we thought were our long-term plans have clearly, unavoidably been redirected into something else.  And while the process hasn't been easy, we're enjoying overall where we're at now.  We're moving into our own house soon that we look forward to renovating together, we're enjoying new friends, Steve began a new job last week, and we're getting a chance to focus on our family.  Plus, what's not to love about Algies Bay, Warkworth, New Zealand!  If you've ever been here you know what I mean.  A little slice of Heaven.

Last week we got to listen to a team from our church that had just returned from Kolkata, and as the pictures started flashing up on the screen, all I could do was sit in the back and cry.  Grief, so much more than a place, an investment of hard work, and a way of life; but memories and people. The sense of loss still felt surprised me.

A few days later I was in the checkout lane at Kmart happily scanning a shopping cart full of kitchen necessities to set up my own home soon.  The thought crossed my mind, "This reminds me of setting up house in Kolkata."  Starting from scratch.  Being very happy with just the basics.  I paid the cashier and turned around to see my boss from Kolkata standing there with his daughters.  He'd flown into the country for just a few days on his way to somewhere else.  Seeing 'family' even briefly is always wonderful, but as I walked away my heart hurt.  A lot. His family living just across the lane from ours and rubbing shoulders daily.  Other co-workers permanently nestled by love in my heart, not to mention the precious ladies that we served.

Happiness and heartbreak.  How do they so easily co-exist?  My heart just a bit more stretched.

When I first got back to New Zealand I expressed to someone the feeling of being 'scooped out'.  Like there was a huge empty hollow in my chest.  The painful scooping was still in process, but I knew that the 'filling' was to come.  Expanding my capacity to love, to feel compassion, to hold the hand of those who hurt, to extend grace.

Grief, pain, loss, and heartbreak all hurt.  But they also stretch and expand the capacity of our hearts.  And if we let it, make us more able to love.

In the middle of the enlarging we often want to ask;

 "Will the Lord reject forever?

    Will he never show his favor again?

8 

Has his unfailing love vanished forever?

    Has his promise failed for all time?

9 

Has God forgotten to be merciful?

    Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”  

(Ps. 77: 7-9)

But the psalm goes on to say, 

"Your ways, God, are holy,

What god is as great as our God?

You are the God who performs miracles."

(vs. 13-14)

He's capable of doing so much, but sometimes the miracle He's performing is mainly in our hearts.  Growing them, changing them, molding them, expanding.  A true miracle indeed!

"To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory."

(Is. 61:3) 

Pain, mourning, hurt, and sadness can be a like seed planted in our hearts.  Put there to grow into something good.  Like a tiny, little, rotting acorn:

Small, insignificant, growing into this:

"Look to the Lord and his strength;

continually seek him." 

(I Chron. 16:11)

We need to embrace the 'seed' that He plants in our hearts and become 'great oaks' for His glory.    And when we know hard things, even when they seem pointless, unfair, just plain wrong, have a purpose---they can become that much easier to bear.  It's about the victory inside.  The one that we will take with us into Eternity.  And the outworking of our expanded heart for the world around us today.

Another one of our Kolkata co-workers wrote an amazing poem about the women that are served there. One stanza says:

"I pray that you will meet the God who is found 

in both the heartbreak and the hope.  

God with you in the moments of pain crying out for it to end, 

God on the cross.

God with you in the moments in which new life springs forth from unexpected places, God resurrected."

-Dan Lander

Yes. For all souls, for them, for you, for me.  For us all.  Expanded, resurrected hearts drawing others to Hope.

Raise Your Head

My fifteen year-old son broke his ankle mountain biking last week.  We've spent a lot of time around the hospital lately since he spent four nights there and had surgery to pin his ankle before leaving.  Lots of life happens in hospitals!  They're places of hope and happiness when things go right, pending sorrow, chagrin over silly accidents, thankfulness for life spared, death, and healing.

Aaron in the ER

Several times when I was in the car park late at night I saw couples arriving to have babies.  The women slowly making their way, all of their focus on the weight that they carried, stopping now and then for a contraction.  The men pulling her suitcase and just wanting to get inside, nervous with the responsibility of two precious lives and anxious to have the hospital staff take that load.

New life, interwoven with pain.  But oh so worth it in the end.

And death just down the corridor.

Life and death, so intertwined.  Bound together.  So much a part of existence.  Continual weaving in the tapestry of living.

Nothing is in a vacuum, everything is bound to something else.  Everyone.  Whether we like it or not--or even recognize it.

"I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck.  I stooped and fed them."  (Hosea 11:4 NKJV)

The NLT calls them "ropes of kindness and love."  GOOD bonds.  Bonds of love are not bondage. There is no need to fear commitment when the One that you are bound to is perfectly loving.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves.  I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high."  (Lev. 26:13 NLT)

Bondage to slavery, bondage to sin, bondage to the enemy of our souls--bows the neck.  

A couple of weeks ago I spent some time in an office with lots of mirrors.  I kept catching glimpses of myself that surprised me.  Slouched over, neck bowed.  No wonder my neck and back have been hurting!  It's with great relief that I now consciously straighten my neck.  Walking with my 'head held high.' I wasn't even aware of the problem except for a nagging ache until I found the solution.

"I have broken the bands of your yoke and make you walk upright." (NKJV)

Sometimes we don't even realize that our neck has become bowed as we walk through life. The subtle influence of one who destroys.  It might be the tedious ache in our heart, a restless mind keeping us awake at night, anxious thoughts, fears of the future, wondering if we can cope with today, impatience with those that we love, just surviving. Sometimes those bonds are weirdly comfortable and have become a part of who we are.  We don't even know they're there until we cry out like the psalmist:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."  

(Ps. 139:23-24)

When what we are bound with are 'bands of love' we can walk with our heads held high, trust in His heart and say, "I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted." (Job 42:2)

We can relax into bonds like those.  Ropes that comfort instead of confine.  Keep us safe.  Make us strong.

And sigh with relief:

"My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." 

(Ps. 73:26)

Giving it back....

I love words.  They float around in my head like a bubble and I love plucking just the right one from the cloud.  That's probably what drove me the most crazy about learning to speak Bengali, I was locked into basic communication because of my own lack of expertise instead of expressing just the nuance and tone that I wanted.  It felt like baby talk and left the communicator in me feeling like I was missing a vital part of my anatomy.

That's why I like to write.  I don't think fast enough, or I'm just too picky to be happy with what generally comes out of my mouth.  I have to say a lot to get at what I really want, whereas when I write I can pause and let the word come like an artist with a paintbrush.

At times I write because I have something to say and somehow want to express that---even if no one ever reads it.  Sometimes it's a form of processing for me and helps me work through some emotion or thing that I don't understand.  And at other times I just write for the love of it.  It fills me with peace and a deep sense of satisfaction.

Lately I've been feeling a responsibility to write.  A compulsion to do it regularly.  And I wonder if it's just somehow that it's good for me, or if maybe it's an impulse put there because of something that I'm meant to say after I practice the process a bit more.  The thought that it may be for the sake of others fills me with trepidation and feelings of inadequacy.

Yesterday, however, I was thinking about gifts and the Giver and about how I've always without really thinking about it, considered gifts as something to be 'used' for others.  But that doesn't quite fit with the practical, internal theology that I've been developing over the last couple of years.  The mind-shift that what's the first priority isn't what is given out, but about what goes in and the Relationship that that involves. (Something that I've always believed but didn't always live.) That the service is just the overflow of that.  And if our value isn't based in what we DO but just in Him, how does that co-exist with gifts and their usefulness?

Google says that a 'gift' inherently is, "a thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present."  So if it's something given, then doesn't that mean that it's something meant to bring joy to the recipient as well?  And bring joy to the giver, too, in the act of giving?  THEN being played onward in that the person with the gift can use it for others as well---and gain further joy from the expression of it?

In the movie Chariots of Fire there is a scene where Eric Liddell tells his sister why he puts value in his ability to run.  He says, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure."

Running.  Something that sounded frivolous to the sister, but brought joy to Eric himself.  And ended up being part of the platform of 'usefulness' in Eric's life.  

Perhaps 'gift' in the sense of a natural aptitude for something is more than just a way of being 'useful.'  My light bulb moment yesterday involved putting 'gift' into a different paradigm, into how using a 'gift' can actually be an act of worship.  An act of thankfulness to the Giver.  Ultimately an act of relationship........

Bringing us closer to Him.  Acknowledging where the gift came from.  In dependence on Him.  In partnership with Him.

My hubby finds joy in mechanical things.  A smooth engine is like Beethoven to his ears.  He can tell you what kind of engine is driving past just by the sound.  A couple of our kids can draw and I love to watch their joyful concentration in the process.   A friend has discovered at age 40 that she can run.  And she loves it!  Some are gifted in relationship, and thrive off of making someone else feel good about themselves.  Some find joy in a perfectly balanced budget, making unruly numbers obey them instead of vice versa (another one of Steve's loves!).  Another friend finds relationship with Him when she's baking.  It's the activity that brings her the most peace.  I'm so amazed by one friend who officiates wedding and funerals, but absolutely thrives on a funeral and the celebration of a life by those who were touched by it.

Gifts.  They come in an endless variety reflecting the boundless creativity of the Giver.  I'm thinking that it's valuable to express them positively.  Even if at times they don't seem 'important'.  Or seem trivial.  That the very act of using them brings glory to the Giver and brings us closer in relationship to Him as well.

That taking time out of busy lives to hone our gifts isn't frivolous, it's worthwhile---and might just be exactly what He had in mind!

So grab your gift.  And open it!