The Gift

Our neighbor was getting married. He and his brother and my two sons grew up together, and of course we would be going to the wedding. I thought back to the first time we had met this family when we moved into their neighborhood, and of the good times our kids had enjoyed together over the years. I purchased a gift from their wedding registry at a department store in the mall, then walked over to Papyrus for what I would need to wrap it. The paper I chose was sort of a foil, with silver and white and pink cherry blossoms. I even made a homemade bow from real fabric ribbon, with a silk flower sort of entwined around it. Bow making was something I thought I would not be good at doing, but it turned out very nicely. I think the wrap on a present is very important. Each wedding gift or birthday gift or baby gift needs a beautiful presentation. And while gift bags are convenient and they can be very beautiful, too, it does not quite match what you can do wrapping a box.

I asked the groom's mother how they preferred to receive the gifts, since everyone does not appreciate them being taken to the wedding. She said they would like them sent to their house. My younger son took the gift over a couple of days before the wedding. He wanted to spend some time with his friend, so it worked out perfectly.

When he came home, he told me how the whole family had oohed and aahed over how beautiful the gift looked, with a couple of people commenting it was too pretty to open. The gift itself was an appliance of some sort, something the couple requested on their registry, so I know it was welcome, but my son commented that the way it was wrapped was much more interesting than the gift itself.

We receive all sorts of gifts in life, some of them looking all shiny and bright and beautiful. And others, well not so much. We naturally gravitate toward the beautiful, and away from the ugly. We can become focused on the way these presents are wrapped, and not so much on the gift itself. The outward appearance can be a distraction, can't it? We do this with people. Sometimes those folks who are not so attractive or maybe a bit rough around the edges bring us the most amazing gifts, and we hesitate to accept because of the packaging.

I have a situation in my life right now which is the biggest problem I have ever faced. It is also likely going to be the greatest gift I have ever received, and I am having trouble accepting it because of the way it looks on the outside. I have been focused completely on the superficial. This gift is in a nasty old grungy smelly brown paper bag. It looks like it belongs in the dumpster. No sparkles or glitter or flowers or bows. It looks absolutely hideous, by far the worst wrapped present I have ever seen.  Yet I know in my heart of hearts that beneath that horrible wrapping, lies the perfect gift lovingly chosen just for me.

I know that I have looked at it long enough, this ugly old thing sitting in the corner. I need to walk over and accept it, perhaps hold my breath from the stench if I need to. Touch it and embrace it and be thankful for it, then open it up and see what happens.

It will be a surprise, won't it? It will be the kind of gift where I gasp and cry because never in a million years would I have thought something that wonderful would be for me. And to think I could miss it all because of how it looks on the outside. I can't let that happen.

Time to open the present.

Susan