Inspire

People are the gifts of God to me. They are already wrapped, some beautifully and others less attractively. Some have been mishandled in the mail, others come ’Special Delivery’. Some are loosely wrapped, others very tightly enclosed. But the wrapping is not the gift, and this is an important realisation. It is so easy to make a mistake in this regard, to judge the contents by the cover. Sometimes the gift is opened very easily; sometimes the help of others is needed. Maybe it is because they are afraid. Maybe they have been hurt before and don’t want to be hurt again. It could be that they were once opened and then discarded. They may now feel more like ‘things’ than ‘human persons’. I am a person: like everyone else I too am a gift. God filled me with a goodness that is only mine. And, yet sometimes I am afraid to look inside the wrapping. Maybe I am afraid I would be disappointed. Maybe I don’t trust my own contents. Or it may be that I have never really accepted the gift that I am. Every meeting and sharing of persons are an exchange of gifts. My gift is me; your gift is you. We are gifts to each other.

As stated in Matthew 5:14-16 “You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.  No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead, it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.

Submitted by Danielle Nak