Life Without The Loveliness

Every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. - James 1:17

When small suntan brown hands handed me a fistful of sweaty dandelions I was at a time in life when I gave little or no thought to this ending. These sweet moments, because is there anything sweeter than 4 year old boys picking flowers for their mother? The good and perfect gift that comes from above. Sometimes gifts are less about what is actually given and more about the person giving.

I will be the first to admit that there have been times when a gift or favor has been extended to me and I have thought, this isn’t really what I wanted. I have judged the gift and the giver unfairly. Maybe I am the shifting shadow James is talking about. Ever changing and blocking the light.

The gift is unable to be seen because an object is in the way. There is no illumination in this place of shifting shadows. The object could be an attitude keeping us from seeing the good and perfect gift from God. Ann Voskamp in her devotional One Thousand Gifts challenges us to, “Envision life without the loveliness of those you love-and you will see how much you love.”

It’s not that we need to be pessimistic, that dwelling over losing and being anxious instead of prayerful. We need to remember God could have left earth a void of nothingness. But He chose creation. He chose human life, He chose dandelions and children. He chose to give us good and perfect gifts.

If I remember who God really is, who I know Him to be, even when the world tries to portray Him as harsh or unkind and at fault for every evil, then I can see His gifts for what they really are. The gift wasn’t just the dandelions in the sweaty suntanned hand, the gift truly was knowing this person thought to bend down and pick up something lovely just for me. The loveliness is I can’t see a dandelion without remembering…