Growing in GratitudeSample

Good Gifts

My parents received a phone call from their friends who had just returned from Greece: they had purchased a gift for me and were eager to bring it over. I was a toddler at the time and waited in anticipation for their arrival. As the story goes, I was so excited to receive their gift that when they gave me a simple t-shirt; I threw it down and ran off in utter disappointment!

I’m sure we all have responded in a similar manner when we were younger or have seen children who have, in their lack of appreciation, expressed sheer disappointment over a gift. This is something that, for the most part, we outgrow, at least in our outer expression of gratitude. But when it comes to gifts given to us by our Heavenly Father, it is quite possible for us to throw tantrums, especially when the “gifts” don’t come in the nicely wrapped packages that we were hoping for or expecting.

We know that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father and that He has given us: the gift of His Son, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal life, gifts in order to serve Him, and gifts in order to serve others. These are enough to cause us to praise and thank Him forever and ever!

Yet there’s another kind of gift, one that may cause a reaction like a toddler who just received a t-shirt instead of a toy, the kind that we may not consider a gift at all: trials. Yes, in God’s economy, even trials and challenges can be counted as gifts. Why? Because through them, not only do we mature and grow in our faith, but we are given the gift of knowing the Lord more deeply and experiencing His grace and faithfulness more fully. When we view life through the eyes and heart of God, we can see that not every gift is nice and neat and tied with a shiny bow. Indeed, some gifts are messy and unwanted, just a simple “Greece t-shirt” in the hands of a selfish, greedy toddler: rejected and tossed aside out of utter disappointment.

If you’re going through an unwanted trial or challenge today, consider asking the Lord to shift your perspective so that you might see it as a “gift” and not toss it aside or discount it, despite its undesirable packaging. He truly is the giver of all good gifts, even the ones that in our limited understanding we don’t initially recognize as good. Would you ask Him to grant you a heart of gratitude for all of His gifts, even the undesirable ones? If you find it hard to practice gratitude in this particular season of life, look to Jesus. When we consider who He is and what He has done, we can’t help but grow in gratitude.