“To love him [God] with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Mark 12:33 New International Version (NIV)
This coming week we celebrate Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. In past years, I’ve occasionally “given” up something for Lent, usually something inconsequential such as chocolate. Other times, I’ve attempted to spend the six weeks until Easter giving up Facebook or getting rid of the junk around my house or attempting the impossible-to-measure “being nicer to people”. And ask me how any of that went? You know it didn’t go well. Just like the rest of us, I am a first-rate sinner – weak in spirit and selfish in body. God has blessed me, however, with a moderate amount of creativity.
The first of the year, I chose the word “gift” as my word of the year. It makes sense then, that during this time of sacrifice, that I concentrate on that. What gifts have I received and what gifts have I given?
Hence, from now until Easter Sunday, I will try each day to offer a gift to someone else, whether a physical gift such as a book or a jacket or a cookie. Or it could be a gift of time or talent. Can I clear the snow off someone’s car after work or mail an inspirational note to someone having a difficult time? Whatever I do, I cannot mention here or anywhere else. There is a verse about that (Matthew 6:1)!
What I will mention here, however, is the gift which I find in each day. Whether it’s the sunshine melting our snow or a loaf of baked bread from a patient or my husband vacuuming the house for me (he did that yesterday! He is a gift to me each day).
And maybe, after these six weeks are up, after we have celebrated the resurrection of Jesus, after I realize there is nothing I can do which will ever pay back that kind of sacrifice, maybe – hopefully - I will continue to remember the gifts.
Thank You, Lord God, for every gift You give us. Help me to use these gifts to share You with others. Amen.
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| A lot of gifts can't be wrapped |
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