A Christmas Present

Before all of you freak out that I'm writing a Christmas post period, let alone as early as September, take a deep breath and relax. That's not what this blog post is at all, so don't have a heart attack or pee your pants or ask what has happened to the Grinch. She's still very much alive ;)

Ok, that said, here goes...

Don't you wish that all the presents God gave you were this neatly packaged and placed perfectly under the tree? And even included a present wrapped in a way that you could totally tell what it was before you unwrapped it, like this teddy bear is?

However, most of the time, when God gives us "presents", they are not so neatly packaged (from our point of view at least). Sometimes, they are very oddly shaped and no one, not even my sister (or Shawn Spencer), could guess what's inside. The form or shape gives no hint. The wrapping gives nothing away. It just sits under the tree until the opportune time when He decides you can open it.

No matter how ugly or confusing the "present" is that He gives, I can be sure that it comes from my Heavenly Father who loves me more than I can fathom and who knows me better than anyone else does. As He gives me this mysterious gift that I can't open yet, I can know for sure that He's giving it to me both for His glory and my good. I can know that He has something beautiful inside for me, something that's just perfect for me because He knows me so well. He's excited to give this gift to me. He's excited to watch me open it. I may not see how perfect it is for me in that moment that I open it, but I can be confident that since it is from my Father, it really is perfect for me.

My whole life, much to the chagrin of my sister (and probably my mom too), I haven't cared much about Christmas presents. I could wait forever to open those gifts under the tree. Having them sit there the whole month of December makes little difference to me. My curiosity isn't really piqued. I remember many Christmas mornings my sister waking me up and dragging me out of bed to start opening gifts. Frankly, I'd rather sleep. They'll still be there in a few more hours. I'm praying for this same kind of "patience" as I wait for Him to say, "Okay, open it!"