One of the many talents my mother-in-law had was gift-giving.
While she was with us, she famously loved to spoil her children and grandchildren, paying close attention to things that caught our eyes, or things we didn’t even realize we needed.
Case in point: the Christmas after we had our first child, we opened her red and white packages to find every sort of snow gear we could possibly need: a baby sled and snowsuit, and snow pants, coats, hats, gloves and boots for my husband and me.
I smiled and thanked her for the gifts, but honestly felt a little skeptical, as I looked outside at the green grass and blue sky. Would all these things even come in handy? Or was winter pretty much over before it had begun?
Sure enough, though, about a month later, we woke up to a blizzard. Snow a foot high covered our street, lawn, and driveway. We of course bundled up snugly in our warm gear and had the best time outside, throwing snowballs, making snow angels, and trekking through the grass, pulling along a sled with an enthralled baby behind us. And we still use that gear to this day.
Good gifts speak more about the giver than the receiver.
My mother-in-law showed care and attentiveness for her family in her gifts. She’d gather them months in advance, plan out what would best suit us, and have them wrapped and ready for the next family gathering, even if the celebration fell at a later date. It brought her joy to see us open her carefully selected presents and even more, to see us put them to use.
Whether or not you have a similar person in your life, we all have a heavenly Father who loves to give us good things.
Jesus gives us the example in Matthew 7 that even fallen humans know how to give good gifts to our children. “How much more,” he says in verse 11 NIV, “will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Moms relate to this.
I love to give my kids gifts. I genuinely would love to say yes to all their requests, just to see the joy in their faces. Yes to ice cream, yes to another pack of collectible cards, yes to the toy at the store. Most of the time, though, that joy is short-lived.
We also learn how to temper our gift-giving. That it isn’t necessarily good for our kids when we always say yes, or give exactly the thing that they’re asking for. Sometimes the good gift looks more like vegetables than ice cream.
Trust the gift giver.
Here’s what I know to be true about God’s gifts: sometimes they are good, but don’t make sense at the moment. Sometimes they’re not just what I asked for, and they don’t feel like a good fit. Sometimes they’re not tangible gifts, but gifts of growth of character and opportunity for change. Sometimes I don’t understand until it all comes together further down the road.
But we can trust him to be working for the good in our lives. Here’s why:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28 NIV
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” – James 1:17 NIV
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” – 2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV
We can trust the gift giver, because he is always working for our good, everything that’s good comes from him, and he always follows through on our promises. These are not just platitudes, but they are truths that can be difficult to adopt. These are verses that can remind us in the moments when we feel uncertain. Our God is a good Father.
Spot the good.
Just like my moment of skepticism with my opened package of snow gear, we can look at a gift and not see its value in the moment. We might not even be able to recognize something as a gift, especially if it looks like a “no,” a closed door, or a change of plans.
Psalm 37:4 NIV gives us a hint: “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Don’t fall for the misused version of this verse, the one that says that you’ll get everything you want in this world when you choose to follow God. No, this verse is telling us that the more we spend time with God–leaning in to who he is and getting aligned with his heart–the more those good gifts he gives us make sense.
Take a minute to reflect. What were some gifts from God that you couldn’t quite understand at the moment? How did God reveal them to be good? What are you waiting on in your life that you can entrust to a good Father?
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Read more of Jenn’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.
