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“Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!”

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A friend was helping clean out the house as an elderly widow prepared for a move into more manageable accommodations. She picked up a small piece of wood that had fallen onto the floor and tossed it into a nearby waste basket. “Oh, no!”, said the elderly women. “Don’t throw that away.” Her friend was puzzled. it was just a scrap of wood. Then she heard the story.

The old woman recalled a day years ago. She and the man who would become her husband for over 70 years had spent an afternoon strolling along a lakeshore. It was the first day they had met. They spoke of their lives, inquiring after one another, getting to know one another. The shoreline was strewn with small bits of driftwood which they would casually pick up and toss out onto the water. Within a few months they were married. One year later, on their first anniversary, he gave her a small box tied with a ribbon. Inside was a piece of driftwood he had kept as a reminder of that first day. It was his gift to her.

The friend reached into the waste basket, retrieved the piece of wood and almost reverently handed it to the elderly lady. Something had changed. The friend now saw more than a scrap of wood. She saw the gift.

You and I were born into a world where everything has been provided, including life itself. Sin reveals itself in us when we see life’s gifts only as things to be selfishly used, manipulated then cast aside. Many treat life this way, sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes willfully. Then they hear the story, the story of Jesus. They hear of His love, His mercy, His deep concern for their lostness, they hear the story of His cross and resurrection. And when the Holy Spirit brings this old, old story of Jesus and His love to life in us something changes. We begin to see the gift in everything because we have seen the greatest gift of all – Jesus Christ our Lord.

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“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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