"Happy Birthday", by Rachel Smith

Matthew 7:11
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask!

My birthday is coming up in May (so is Lon’s) and as a result I have been trying to think of what I might ask for this year. I believe that people are God’s presents to us. Not just on our birthdays or at Christmas, but every day.

If you think about it, people are a lot like presents. Each gift is unique and all carefully chosen by the giver. Each gift is intended to bring us joy or to help us in some way. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to receive a new shower door for Christmas one year, but we sure needed it! There are several people that God gives me that are truly a joy. I love un-wrapping every detail of their lives when we meet for coffee or run into each other at the store.

Then, there are others that require assembly and patience. Their packages aren’t nearly as pretty, but with some work those gifts have turned out to be dependable and necessary in my life.

I have also been given a gift or two that I’m not entirely sure what it’s for. I keep those gifts too. I feel I have to. Then, after about a year of not knowing what I would ever do with said item, it goes to the garage sale or the garbage. Ironically some of those same items are the ones I end up needing and wishing I had. I wonder how many of God’s presents we discard thinking we have no use for them.

All people are gifts to us from the great Giver of all good things. Who will you unwrap today?

Happy Birthday, Lon.