The Gift

My fingers felt clumsy as I finished packaging the gift for my sister Stacy.* The following week was her birthday, but neither of us felt like celebrating. A family dysfunction had recently cracked wide open, and we were both struggling to fit the jagged pieces of our lives back together.

Not long before, one of those shards had pierced me through the middle, landing me in the psych ward of our local hospital. Satan had convinced me that I was no good, unlovable, a complete failure. He taunted, Why not just kill yourself?

But God had met me in that psych ward with an entirely different message. I have life for you, He promised, life that’s not about what you can do, but what I can do for you. He opened my eyes to the abundance Jesus offers: “…to bestow on them…the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (Isaiah 61:3 NIV)

I accepted these life-changing gifts, and over the next few months, God often used His Word to speak radically transforming truth into the circumstances of my life. The healing process however, was long and painful, and though I was in a healthier place, Stacy remained caught in the maelstrom.

As I finished addressing my paper-wrapped parcel, a clatter outside caught my attention. A wind had kicked up, knocking over a full can of garbage on the curb. I sighed, thinking of the scattered trash I would now have to pick up.

Tucking the package beneath my arm, I headed for the door, deciding to first clean up the mess before driving to the post office. Outside, I didn’t mind the wind on my face. In fact, I found it comforting as I’d always pictured wind as something like the Holy Spirit: you can’t see it, but you can feel its power and know it’s there. As I scooped up litter, one piece resting near my car made me pause. It was a page torn from my daily devotional desk calendar. I flipped it over to read the verse. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Gratitude filled me as God once again spoke to me through Scripture, reminding me that whatever we suffer today will someday be no more. Forever.

With a lighter heart, I returned to the house to slit a seam in my sister’s package. I resealed it with the windblown scrap of paper inside, confident that the hope of God’s promise would be the best gift I could offer Stacy this year.

*Names changed to protect privacy