Giving and Receiving Gifts (Part 3 of 3)

Learning to Live (Series)

Lately the Lord has been opening my eyes to my reality.  He has kindly and lovingly been showing me the areas in my life that have been void of correction and instruction of His ways, void of experiencing His love in the general activities of learning how to live.  This has included revelations that go back through my childhood up through my present relationships with my husband and children.  He is redeeming these voids a few at a time, here and there, showing me what is and has been missing and following up with what needs to be exchanged or filled in.  I have been lost and pretending to live, but thankfully the Lord has prepared me for this season of learning from Him, personally, how to live.

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In Giving and Receiving Gifts – Part 1 I shared that the Lord has been showing how preparation and sacrifice are valuable character elements of giving gifts.  In Giving andReceiving Gifts – Part 2  I shared that the Lord has been showing me how presentation and heart-felt sentiment are valuable charcter elements of giving gifts.  Here I continue with more that the Lord has been showing me, but about receiving gifts.

Receiving

Receiving a gift that has been given with such love as described in the past two posts ought to stir up a grateful heart for favor towards us which leads to an expression of thankfulness for the favor toward us.

It seems to me that receiving a gift involves a two elements. 

One part being that the gift exudes a feeling of “being known,” which is evidenced through the thought and preparation that noticeably went into the gift given.  When we feel “known” we feel loved and valuable, which draws us to have a grateful heart.

 (My daughter crocheted my son an Angry Bird 
knowing he likes to play Angry Birds in his free time)

Another part seems to include an attitude of having our eyes open and looking for the blessings, a willing and eager heart to “receive” blessing.  For example, if the gift was handmade, gratefulness includes noticing and paying attention to the details of the work done and receiving the love directed toward us with thankful expressions.  Being grateful seems to have an element of taking our eyes off of ourselves and directing thoughts of appreciation toward the one who gave so freely and sacrificially.

This makes me think of the Lord and how He gave us the gift of salvation so freely and sacrificially.  Do we have our eyes on Him, noticing the preparation, the sacrifice, the great details of the love He wants to pour out on us?  Do we have a grateful heart in all the details of life and are we expressing thankful sentiment toward Him?  He is the example of lovingly preparing and pouring Himself into the gift of salvation and continues to prepare our permanent home in Heaven.  My desire is to have a grateful heart in all things.

Summary

As I have worked through this series of posts, it all seems so very elementary, yet my understanding was so void and empty for lack of training in the ways of Love, in the ways of Christ.  In turn for these past years, I raised my children with an equally void understanding of Christ and how seemingly every day activities can model His love, but rather gave them experiences filled with empty flesh related ideas.   My heart is so grateful that His love is so good and so gently and never too late, that we have been given this opportunity to bring new loving ideas into our home that reflect Christ’s love.