When I was in kindergarten, I couldn’t wait for our class Christmas party. My mom and I even made reindeer cookies (well… I’m sure she made them and I helped taste-test) for the occasion.
The day of the party, we loaded up our reindeer cookies in the car and headed off to school. It was an icy winter morning so Mom decided to take a shortcut to school.
But the quick drive to school didn’t go as planned.
Our car slid on an icy part of the road and flipped onto its side. I sat suspended above a shattered window, terrified about what had just happened. My brother giggled in his car seat, thinking it was some sort of ride. Someone from a nearby house came out to help. Not to mention my reindeer cookies… they were smashed.
An ambulance came to check on us. We were all okay—but I was really upset about my party. How would I get there now? Had they already started the party without me?
The paramedics noticed my distress, and they gave me two gifts on that scary morning. First, they gave me a stuffed cat wearing a red and green scarf and a Santa hat. Second, they offered to give me a ride to school in the ambulance so I wouldn’t miss my kindergarten Christmas party.
I bet I had the most unique ride to school that day.
Neither of those gifts were huge in themselves. The stuffed cat might’ve been from the Dollar Store. The drive to school took less than five minutes. But they are gifts I will never forget because they were given to me at a time when things weren’t going as planned. They encouraged me in the midst of a tough, scary day.
We all have seasons of life that don’t go the way we planned or hoped.
We all have challenging days, weeks, months, and even years.
But God is with us during these times. God never abandons us. God knows how to give us good gifts—often gifts that we don’t expect, but gifts that we will never forget because they’re better than anything we could’ve imagined.
In Matthew 7:9-11, Jesus says, “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
We know how to give good gifts. But God knows even more.
Just think of the story of Christmas, the reason we celebrate this time of year. God promised us a Savior, but Jesus’s time on earth didn’t go the way people expected. They didn’t expect Jesus to spend his first moments lying in a manger. They didn’t expect him to eat with sinners and the outcasts of society. And his disciples didn’t expect him to die on a cross.
But out of humble beginnings and through a heartbreaking crucifixion, God gave us the greatest gift of all. A gift we will never forget. The gift of everlasting love and life with our Creator. The gift of hope.
I’m so thankful for a God who knows how to give good gifts.
And never forget… you are onederfully created by that same God.
Love,
Becca
