The Gift Exchange

When my friend Diana and I spent an evening shopping last week, she invited me to choose a coffee mug for my Christmas gift. 

I loved this idea. She said she already had my gift bag (with my favorite holiday motif of skates), but she just hadn’t gotten the gift yet. 

We often exchange gifts of coffee and mugs since we both have a penchant for them. I gave her a ruffled white mug with a fancy silver spoon I found over the summer. 

So as we shopped, I spotted an adorable mug with a Santa hat that said “May all your days be merry.” She gift-bagged it for me on the spot.

As I unpacked it at home and looked at my holiday coffee mugs, I thought about gifts. 

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could choose all sorts of gifts? Like the gifts of our strengths and skills that come wrapped around who we are. 

Sometimes I have an easier time thinking of what I’m not instead of recognizing who I am with the specially chosen gifts that God instilled in me. 

And instead of wishing I were different, I want to learn to treasure those gifts. The gifts that are my own personal characteristics. 

That I sometimes would rather return for something better, newer, brighter, more dazzling. When I wish I could have chosen my gifts for myself, I start to think that I know better than God does who I am and what I need. 

What if I looked at who I am differently? What if the gifts I try to cover up and change are the very ones that help me appreciate grace? 

The grace given to me and the grace that I should give to others. My unsparing honesty, my intense temperament, my strong-mindedness. 

Maybe I could also look at them from the other side. To see where the strengths are. I could see them as truth, passion and determination. Good things. 

And if I recognize these characteristics as gifts maybe I can trust that they are all I need to fulfill God's purpose for my life.

I'm sure I’ll still probably spend some time wishing I could exchange those gifts for some others I think I’d rather have. 

But instead I'd like to recognize, enjoy and learn how to better use what I've been given. Because they help me see what God has called me to do in my life. 

So as I drink coffee from my new mug, I’m going to try to make the most of my merry days. 

I don't think anything I could get in return would be as valuable as the gifts I already have. 

No refunds. No exchanges. I'm keeping all the gifts.

Which strengths of yours are the gifts that you’re appreciating this holiday season?

I'm linking up with Emily's Tuesday's Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky.