The Gift

Have you ever received a really great gift? One you longed for and were so excited to get. By gift, I mean the tangible kind, one that you receive from someone, usually for an occasion.

The tricky thing with gifts is that the feeling they give you rarely ever lasts. It's usually very fleeting. I'm sure this is not always the case, but more often than not, we are eventually ready to move on to the next shiny, new item. Think about the last great gift you received. Do you still treasure it? Do you even still have it? Just how long did that warm, fuzzy feeling last?

This morning, I was thinking about a gift that God gave Tom and me years ago, one I was so excited to get. I felt absolutely blessed to have it and was beyond excited to receive it. It was so remarkable that it was clearly a gift from God. It was a big one and it was perfect! It was just the right color, size, fit...all the things.

As I look back on just how perfect that gift was, I can hardly believe I let it go so easily. Like I worked to get rid of it!! I worked hard to get rid of it because I wanted something better. Can you believe it only took me three short years and I was ready to move on to something different, something better? Three years is all it took for me to forget the goodness that was upon me when I received this gift. How quickly we forget!

I'm ashamed to admit that I squandered that gift. I was deceived into thinking that there was something better out there. The new item that caught my eye, the new item I began chasing, had one element that my current "gift" didn't have and I became obsessed with it! Obsessed with that one missing component! It's all I could think about so I began chasing it.

I'm tenacious by nature and when I set my mind on something, it's all but done, sometimes no matter what the cost! In this case, my tenacity did not serve me well. I caught what I was chasing. As I reflect back on this time, it could be said that this began the downward spiral that would wreak havoc for years to come.

Letting go of the gift God had given me for something newer and shinier proved to be a grave mistake. It costs us a lot of money, a lot of time, and quite possibly kept us from even better gifts that the Lord had planned for us. Oh, we realized just a few years into our new gift that we had made a mistake, but by that time, it was way too late. The damage was done. The gift God had given us was gone!

It's been over 14 years since I let that gift go but the Lord randomly brought it to my mind this morning. I'm not exactly sure why, unless it is to write this little post. Maybe someone out there is about to squander a good gift.

Think about something in your life that you were so excited to receive and now you hardly know it's there. You certainly no longer appreciate it and quite frankly would like to get rid of it. This could be anything, a car, a house, a job, a spouse, a friend.

I caution you on giving up what you once loved, what you were at one time so excited to have. You were once so thrilled that you could hardly believe it was yours! Forgetting those former feelings could mean letting go of something or someone that you will never get back. It could mean getting into debt for something that really isn't meant for you. Maybe that new title you are chasing in your career comes with a higher price than they cared to tell you about.

It wasn't wrong for me to investigate something different. My misstep was the blind focus on the one missing component I mentioned earlier. We all have this tendency. We get distracted by the one thing that is missing and fail to see all the other good parts surrounding us. We tend to focus on who or what is missing rather than all those who show up and all the blessings around this previously adored gift.

We often let go of great things that have lost their appeal, all in the name of chasing the next big thing, the next big opportunity or the next great relationship. Friends, this mindset is dangerous and will lead us astray.

So why would the Lord bring this to my mind today, over a decade later? I can't help but think that this is for someone reading this. Maybe someone is dealing with a hard decision and has yet to pull the trigger. There's a reason for the waiting. If this is you, may I suggest that you press pause and pray? See what God reveals to you. Maybe you need to move forward but it's just not time. Maybe you need to abort the entire thing. I don't know but He does...

I guess my point is don't go rogue. Don't give up your once treasured gift to chase something or someone that really isn't meant for you. The person, the item, or the opportunity that came to your mind as you read this, that is what you need to pray about. It came to your mind for a reason. Seek His guidance and His wisdom before you proceed.

I wasted my gift many years ago and we are just now beginning to recover from that mistake; however, all was not lost in that season of squander. We have learned some hard lessons which I now hope to pass on to you. I have learned to savor God's good gifts. I will savor them and I will safeguard them.

If I had it to do over again, I would NEVER have let that gift go. I'm afraid we don't get to have a "do over" or do we? No, I won't ever get that gift back but I'm believing that through lessons learned, maybe He feels He can trust me with other good gifts. We shall see...

Until next time...