I was so excited for Christmas. I mean what kid wasn’t?

The lights, the parties, the sweets, but mostly the presents. I mean I was only six years old so

of course those were the things that were important to me.

I remember the wrapping paper – red and green stripes. I remember the tag – to Daisy from Mom & Dad. And I remember the excitement of tearing into that gift.

Then I remember being absolutely angry.

It was a cracker box. What?! After all of these weeks of shaking it and staring at it and dying to know what was inside of that pretty red and green paper – it was seriously a cracker box.

So I threw a fit. I mean I was mad mad. And you kids don’t know anything about this but back in the 80’s parents didn’t put up with that mess.

My mom quickly grabbed the cracker box and handed it over to my sister. She opened it and inside was the soft, pink romper that I had been hoping for.

But the gift was no longer mine.

Y’all, isn’t that what we do? God gives us a gift from the heart. Something that we’ve longed for. Something that He knows will be just perfect for us – and we reject it. We reject it because we can’t see past our own assumptions.

This Christmas my hope is that we can all see and embrace the gifts that God has handpicked just for us. Maybe that gift is singing or writing or hospitality. Maybe that gift is cooking or carpentry or cleaning.

Whatever that gift is – thank Him. He handpicked it just for you. Trust God that it’s a good one – no matter what it looks like to the human eye. After all, how lucky are we to have a God that cares about us that much.

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:” 1 Peter 4:10