December 25 • Unwrapping the Gift

Life is a gift. We didn’t create it or choose it. But it is ours to open and experience. A meal with people you love, elbow to elbow, passing plates, sharing life together. A walk in the quiet of the morning, before the birds start singing, just you and the stars. This is God’s grace, the gift of joy and peace in the quiet and the loud.

God has wrapped his gift of love in flesh and bone and placed it in a broken and hurting world. The infant Jesus was placed in a feeding trough, showing just how far God will go for us. God has put his love into our flesh and bones and placed us in the perfect place to be an extension of that gift. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [Ephesians 2:8-10] You are hand-crafted by God and handed over to be a gift of love and joy where you are.

The gift of grace sustains us through all seasons because we can celebrate that we are loved, chosen, and safe. Whatever you’re going through today, you have hope. You have a gift. And you are the gift of God’s love to others. So open it and see what God has for you to experience today.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. [Romans 15:13]