Gifts of Love

The purpose of Jesus' death was to glorify the Father. To be willing as the Son of God to suffer the loss of so much glory Himself in order to repair the injury done to God's glory by our sin showed how infinitely valuable the glory of God is. To be sure, the death of Christ also shows God's love for us. But we are not at the center.  John Piper

When I was little we would make gifts to give our parents for various occasions including Mother’s and Father’s Day and birthdays.  I get some of my creativity from my Mom although my Dad did teach me the creativity that can happen when you don’t have the right tool so he taught me how to improvise.  Remember my devotional about rotating my tires and my cheater.  Creativity comes in all forms.

When you are little you don’t have any money so you make things by hand to give as gifts.  Let me give you a few examples.  When we were building our house in the country there was always wood pieces left over from building the house.  Some of the pieces came from leftover crown molding so these pieces already had a nice edge on them.  I decided to make my Mom a plaque.  I painted the board bright yellow and I drew a picture on the wood in pencil of a little girl kneeling on the ground picking a flower.  I am not a good artist by any means so you can imagine what she looked like.  I took leftover scraps of fabric and made her a little flowered dress and a hat that I glued in place.  I took tiny beads and decorated the flowers on her dress.  It was a real cheesy piece.

Another lovely piece was a plaque out of chicken feathers.  What can I say, we had wood and chickens.  You use what’s available.  Another lovely gift was a pine cone that I glued red berries onto the branches and glittered.   

When I presented that first plaque to my Mom, you would have thought it was a Picasso from the look on her face and the praise I received over that hunk of decorated wood.  My mom actually hung it on the wall in our house.  Have you noticed how parents don’t have worldly taste when it comes to their kid’s artistic endeavors?  It doesn’t matter how lopsided, uneven or ugly it is, they cherish whatever you do. 

An example of a gift that I received from my nephew when he was four is one of my most cherished items.  It hangs on my refrigerator to this day.  He drew a picture of something.  I can’t remember what it was a picture of, although it was colorful.  He had written in Crayola “To Aunt Brane”.  I was really Aunt Bren but that picture always brings back sweet memories of me babysitting him.  He never wanted to go to sleep so I would sit by his bed and rub his head until he drifted off.  His little hand would pat my arm over and over again because he was trying so hard to stay awake.  When I think of that little hand patting my arm it brings tears to my eyes.  He is now a senior in high school. 

When I started thinking about the gifts, if brought to mind God and Jesus.  Can you imagine the agony Jesus felt when he asked God to take away the suffering he was about to endure, even knowing at that moment that to save us he would have to go through death on the cross because it was God’s will. 

Then I thought about God and His only Son.  How must God have felt to watch His only Son suffer?  A Son without sin who would die a terribly painful death. If you are a parent and you put yourself in God’s place, could you do it?  It was the ultimate gift to our Heavenly Father and to us.      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I don’t deserve the gift of salvation but I praise you for giving us the opportunity to be saved in spite of our sin.  Thank You for the gift of your Son on a cross so that I could be set free.  What an extraordinary gift!   

Scripture:  Prayer in the Garden

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.  Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”  

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” Matthew 26:36-46