A Gift Specially Delivered by God
I received a gift from God the other day.
That week I had been overwhelming, to say the least. I am in a season of great change. Some changes I have been planning for and expecting as best as I can, like the start of grad school. Other changes, like my son getting his first fever… not so much preparation was made. There are other twists I won’t go into detail about. My point for now is that life has a way of proving simple idioms like “When it rains, it pours” to be astonishingly true in the most inconvenient of seasons.
I have shed a few more tears than I have in a while. I opened my work email up from home more than I have in a while. I have been more prone to anxiety and frustration than I have in a while. I’m feeling spread thin and tired. Overwhelmed. This is when I got my flowers from God.
I’m sure you’re wondering, “Um… what the heck does that mean?”
The stereotype around a husband bringing home a flower arrangement is they are a way for the husband to show that he “really truly loves” his wife. It’s a way for a husband to tell His wife that He thinks about her. He cares for her. In this way, God sends small things in a day to show His dearly beloved that He loves them. He cares for them. He sees them.
So, I was at Aldi on another overwhelming day.
The morning was crazy.
Getting to work was crazy. I was late.
Work was crazy.
The traffic on the way to pick up Elias was crazy.
My lunch break was crazy.
Going to the store with a baby is always crazy.
Elias was still a bit whiny from his fever, so I made the extra effort to bring Elias’s pacifier with the reusable grocery bag and diaper bag, but no effort was made to grab a quarter to use a cart at Aldi. I sighed and walked in with my large grocery bag on my shoulder and Elias on my left hip. I could feel the tears welling.
Elias decided Mama was crazy for trying to put a pacifier in his mouth. Hands were full of baby, and pockets were full of keys and wallets, so I tucked his pacifier into the waistband of my pants.
“I can’t imagine how I must look to the people in the store.” I stared at the food in defeat. I started fumbling and doing the best I could with no extra hands to open the door to grab my first needed item. Dejected, desperate, and done, I turned to see an elderly man rolling his cart in my direction.
Before I knew it, he told me to take his cart.
This was my gift. This was the moment when I knew what I needed to know to make it through my crazy moment, my crazy day, my crazy week, my crazy season:
God sees me.
God cares for me.
Gosh loves me.
This was the moment when I knew what I needed to know to make it through my crazy moment, my crazy day, my crazy week, my crazy season: God sees me. God cares for me. God loves me.
These gifts from God do not always make the craziness of life any less crazy, but they make it durable. It’s in these moments I understand the meaning of the Scriptures, “No weapon formed against me shall prosper.” The weapon is made, but that doesn’t mean it will overtake me. Not when I know that God is with me.
What’s the goal here?
The goal is not to ask that God would send you flowers through a person and expect it to happen. That probably won’t happen. The goal here is gratitude, joy, and delight in God’s goodness.
The goal here is gratitude, joy, and delight in God’s goodness.
When pondering the idea of gifts from God, I think of these passages:
Genesis 3:21—”The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.”
Psalm 16:11—”In your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.”
1 Peter 5:7—”Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.”
James 1:17—”Every good and perfect gift comes from above, down from the Father of lights who does not change like shifting shadows.”
When we live our lives in light of the truth of Scripture, (these passages as well as all of the Bible), we can see God working on our behalf in the world and be encouraged to live more faithfully to Him.
Let someone be God’s gift to you.
My very first instinct when the man offered me his cart (after tears welled into my eyes) was to say, “No, I’m okay.” Even though I was very much emotionally and physically not okay, I was the exact opposite of okay. But for a moment, I was simply focused on how I wanted to be perceived as a strong, capable, and independent woman that I wanted to deny the gift. I wanted to deny this person’s kindness.
The lie we often say to ourselves is to accept help is to be burdensome. The truth is that it’s okay to be weak! Another lie: you are strongest when you are by yourself. On the contrary, “two is better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
It’s okay to let someone help you. It’s okay to let someone compliment you. It’s okay to let someone love you as Jesus does. It’s okay to let someone be the hands and feet of Jesus to you in your life. Let these moments bring peace to your soul, and then make your soul known to God in gratitude and give Him thanks.
Let these moments bring peace to your soul, and then make your soul known to God in gratitude and give Him thanks.
You could be God’s gift for someone else.
I don’t want to imagine what my shopping experience on this day would have looked like if that man had not brought that shopping cart over. Were there moments when I could have offered someone a shopping cart, but I felt too scared, too rushed, and too bothered to do so? Practicing the Way is a program that invites the followers of Jesus to eliminate hurry from their lives, to spend time with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do as Jesus did. If all believers lived more like this, maybe God would have more bouquet deliverers on staff.
Be the hands and the feet of Jesus where you are. Turn monotonous into special by also being willing to be God’s gift to others. Hold a door open for someone, smile at a stranger, compliment someone’s shoes. People might get to know just how much God delights in them and be spurred into good works (.
Be the hands and the feet of Jesus where you are.
Keep an eye out for that gift specially delivered by God.
In the crazy, the overwhelming, the exhausting, find those small things in your day-to-day that God uses to show how big His love is for you. Some of the other minute gifts that make me feel esteemed are:
A smile from my son Elias
A pleasant conversation with a co-worker
Goofing off with a friend
Dinner time with my husband and baby boy
Engaging with the Scriptures
A walk when the weather is nice
Notice these are happenings I could see in my every day. If you waited for dew on some fleece, you might feel like God’s gift for you is getting sent to the wrong address. God does more sanctification, encouragement, and theology in our monotonous routines than in grandiose occasions. Those with us in the monotonous routines are intimately bound to us. This is where God beckons us. This is where God wants to be. This is where He already is. We just need to open the eyes of our hearts to see Him there. When we do, we find more love, hope, and guidance than we could ever imagine.
“Those with us in the monotonous routines are intimately bound to us. This is where God beckons us. This is where God wants to be. This is where He already is.”
