The best gifts!

I remember my birthdays growing up. I have such a great mother. I am so sorry ladies but she is certainly the best mom in the whole world. I never just got a birthday cake or a birthday gift. I always got a birthday cake she baked and a gift she had been looking for all year. We never know when mom buys our birthday gifts, she's always on the lookout. She may be at Walmart, or the Christian bookstore, or online, or at the Salvation Army, or even a department store, but she will see it and recall the thousands of little conversations we had in which we said something that now makes her think of us when she sees the item.


I am the oldest of three children and I love flowers, music, poetry, drama, old movies like Anne of Green Gables, and pretty stationary. One year my mom gave to me a watch that opened like a locket. It was a pendant watch and she had Isaiah 49:16 inscribed on the inside. On the front of the watch had been etched a beautiful rose. Another year she bought me a brush set made of wood and boar hair bristles with an old fashioned hand mirror. Several times she has sent me Coach or Dooney and Burke purses she knew I could never afford new and probably could never bring myself to spend the money on even if I had it. Recently she added to my collection of Foxwood tale story plates, when she found an old one at the local Goodwill. Her gifts never reflected what she thought I should look like, or how she thought I should dress, or what she thought I should read, or where she thought I should visit, or even what she thought I should watch. They were never about her, only about her love for me and her desire to bring me delight.


Yesterday I was reading in Ephesians 5 and stumbled across a little verse, right in the middle of all these instructions on how we should live as children of the light and contrasts to those who in darkness. This little verse said, "Carefully determine what pleases the Lord." Now just in case we miss the context of this verse let me back up to the first verse of the chapter, "Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children." I read that first verse yesterday and instantly thought of my oldest daughter when she was in kindergarten. Her and her friend were playing in the garage and there was a lot of grunting and loud noises. At first I just kept telling them to play quieter. Finally, it registered with me what I was hearing and I went running to the garage to find out what they were doing. When I asked my daughter she just replied, "We're pretending to have babies mom." I told them to find something else to play. It didn't stop there though. In about the third grade she decided she wanted to wear my clothes to school. She didn't care the kids made fun of her or that she looked different. On picture day we had the most awful fight because she insisted on wearing my skirt, which was to long for her, and my sweater which was falling off her shoulders. I finally pinned and stapled everything to where it would stay on and just sent her off to school. It is only in retrospect that I have now seen what so many of you see reading this, and even making you smile. My daughter loves me. She thought I was so beautiful and wonderful, she wanted to look like me and do everything I did. Isn't that what Ephesians 5:1 speaks about? The implication is the depth of the relationship that exists between us and our ABBA DADDY.


As if the relationship is not clear enough, the Scriptures expand on it time and time again. God knows how many hairs are on your head at any given moment of any given day, despite how many we lose every minute. He eavesdrops on your conversations in hopes you will call His name. He is so captivated by you His unwavering gaze never moves away from you, & He never even sleeps, just watches you as you sleep and sings over you in the night watches. He thinks so many GOOD thoughts towards you they are more numerous than the grains of sand on the shore. He hides jewels for you in the darkest times of your life and not only goes before you and after you, and makes a way for you, but never leaves you...He is ALWAYS with you! He didn't just die for you, He lives for you waiting to bring you home and making intercession continually on your behalf. He gives you NEW tender mercies EVERY morning, not just after the bouquet has died. You literally "rock His world!" We are not just His children, we are truly His DEAR children.


Now some of you might be asking, what does this have to do with carefully finding out what pleases the Lord? It's simple. It is a wonderful thing to get a gift, especially when it is from someone we care about because it tells us how much they care about us. BUT...it is an INCREDIBLE thing to get a gift like the ones my mother gave me. They reflected how much she listened to me. They reflected how often she thought about me. They told me I was ALWAYS on her mind and close to her thoughts! We don't just give gifts to people we love, we give gifts after carefully considering what might bring them great delight, what might please them! Our gifts and the thought that goes into them is a reflection of how much they mean to us. And so I believe Ephesians 5:10 reminds us, don't just do something nice for God! Consider how greatly you are loved and the relationship you have with Him and then carefully select something that will overflow His heart with delight. Let your words, your thoughts, and your actions reflect how very much you love Him. That's certainly what He's done for you! <3