The Gift, and my Reaction to it...

"Every good gift  and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning..." James 1:17

Good morning, dear friends,

I went to my husband's office to get a book, and there it was.

Folded on the shelf, unassuming, just waiting to be noticed.

Was that what I thought it was?  I took it down from the shelf.

Yes, there it was.  I unfolded it, and examined it closer.

A cane.  A folding cane that could easily fit into a purse or backpack.

I could not believe my eyes.  My husband had bought me a CANE?  Did he think I was a cripple, or unable to take care of myself, or someone who NEEDED, much less wanted one of those?

I quickly stopped myself.  Wait, I wasn't a cripple, but my knee hurts something awful walking in the cold.  It wasn't that I couldn't take care of myself, but sometimes I did need a steadying hand.

Maybe the cane wasn't something that I WANTED, but maybe it was something I NEEDED.  At least, for days when my knee goes wonky and doesn't want to work correctly.  Which, in the winter time, is quite often.

It was my pride and my selfishness that didn't want the gift.

But that got me thinking...

There have probably been many gifts, that God has given me, that I didn't necessarily want to receive.  For example, God has at times "gifted" me with loneliness on the mission field.  I didn't want that gift, and could have been tempted to rail at God and say, "I don't want this!" But God knew I needed it, to make me a stronger Christian by depending on Him more, and others less.  To help me empathize with others who feel isolated.  To appreciate friendships more.

"...for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me..." Psalm 23:4

God has "gifted" me with trials of faith, trusting Him to provide for a financial need, or a health need, or a family need.  I certainly would have avoided these gifts if I could have, and yet, God has grown me as a Christian to trust Him more, time and time again.  Just when I think my faith has been stretched to its limits, along comes another "gift" of a trial, and it stretches again.

"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice..." I Peter 4:12-13

God has "gifted" me with the strangeness of living in a foreign country, constantly adapting to the customs around me, doing mental gymnastics of learning how to communicate love and Christ in words that do not always come easily, or come out correctly.  This may not have been something that I want everyday, but how I need to empty myself of my "foreignness," and go to others, and speak His words, and trust Him for the results.

"Though I speak with the tongue of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." I Corinthians 13:1

I looked again at the gift that my husband had not yet even presented to me, and I stopped my ranting.  After all, this cane was a gift of love.  My husband knows how much I love to walk, and how frustrating it is on the days when my knee doesn't want to cooperate, to be excluded from family outings, or even walking my youngest son to school.

I decided to ask him about it.  When I showed him my discovery, he sheepishly admitted that he had been thinking those exact same thoughts.

I told him how much I loved him, and thanked him profusely for the "unwanted" gift.

So many times, I think that God is just waiting for us to acknowledge Him in thankfulness, for the difficult things in our lives, as well as the more apparent blessings.  How much different my outlook would be, if I would just remember that both come from the hands of the same loving Father.

Think I'll take the cane out for a spin this morning, as I walk Joshua to school...