Monday, August 5, 2013

Receive what you're given

When my maternal grandmother died, we found in her closets and drawers many of the lovely gifts all of us had given her through the years. She lived through the Depression and grew up through hard times and had learned to be extremely frugal. We knew exactly what was going on with those things sitting, unused, in drawers and closets: She had been saving them for some special occasion. But that occasion never came. She never got to enjoy those things we had all so carefully chosen for her.

Do you have gifts in your life that remain unopened? They might be physical gifts—or perhaps they're even emotional or spiritual gifts. Are special people in your life trying to help you, bless you or shower you with some love that you keep pushing away? Have you been given spiritual gifts that you're ignoring?

Have you ever had a friend or family member offer to do something for you and you've said, "No thanks, I'll be just fine"? I have, too. I see now that there was a mutual gift that I rejected: I would have been gifted with their help. They would have been gifted with the opportunity to serve and to feel good about doing so.

In her book My Grandfather's Blessings, Rachel Naomi Remen says that one of her elderly patients who had outlived his family told her that "all we get to keep are our memories." Remen adds, "Perhaps the only way we get to keep anything may be to use it up" and says wisely, "Perhaps we are all given many more blessings than we receive."

Yes, I do believe we are. Look around. What gifts and blessings have you been given but not yet received?




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