gift... 5 minute Friday

...joining in with Lisa Jo and her 5 Minute Friday community, again... that place in the bloggy world where we write for five minutes flat on a one-word common topic.  We write because we are writers, not because we want to impress one another.  We write without correction, and then we read each other's thoughts... and I'm always impressed.   


Care to join in?  Today's word... gift.


GO


I write a lot about gifts.  I keep a list of my grace gifts, I blog about gifts... I even wrote a novel about gifts.  I love gifts.  


I'm learning, though, that I'm a bit of a gift snob.  I like the good gifts... no, actually LOVE the good gifts.  I pick and choose... I don't LOVE, in fact, I don't even LIKE the not so good gifts.   I whine and complain about those.  


They are gifts though... the gifts of heartache and shame that cause me to run to the Throne of Grace... the gifts of pain and discomfort that cause me to rely not on my strength, but on His... the gifts of disappointment and discouragement that remind me this world is not my home.


I started a list of gifts a few years ago.  For a long time, the list only consisted of the "good gifts" that I found in each new day.  Gifts such as... a beautiful sunrise, a flower from my girl, a word of thanks from the man-cub, a note on my bathroom mirror from the woman-child.  All good gifts, and my heart was thankful.


Somewhere over that time... He has taken my heart on a life field trip to see the good in all of it... to see that He is the Redeemer and He can take an achy heart and cause it to praise Him... to understand that it is He that makes beauty from ashes, and makes all things new.


I love gifts and listing gifts.  I love, even more, that my Savior isn't finished with me yet.  He's teaching me new things... He's teaching me to count it all on my list of gifts because He is my Redeemer.


STOP