The Unexpected Gift

Let me tell you about one of the most memorable Christmas presents I ever received (my parents will remember this one and get a good laugh out of it).

I was in high school. Just like many of us (if you are truthful), I survey the gifts under the tree days before Christmas. As an experienced gift looker, I kind of knew what was clothes or certain things that I asked for that year.

This particular year there was a gift...that I was obsessed with...I picked it up...It was heavy....About the size of the brick. Everyday I would take a look at that gift. What in the world could it be?

Growing up my dad NEVER, EVER, let us open gifts until it was actually Christmas day (or our birthday). For some reason, that year my dad let us pick one gift to open on Christmas Eve...in retrospect I think it was to torture me.

Of course I went for the brick...dying to know what was inside.

I tore in to that gift...

Guess what it was...

It was a desk top set of dictionaries and thesaurus. Just what every teenager wanted. Boy was that a let down, a disappointing Christmas present (not to sound ungrateful mom and dad!). Dictionaries and thesaurus?! Really?!

Till this day, my parents still laugh about the brick.

As I was sitting down to write a "Christmas" blog, the brick came to mind and got me thinking. Brayden was certainly a gift that we obsessed about before he was born. Getting all the baby things ready, trips to Target or Babies R Us, digging out all of the baby gear and setting everything up. I would stand in the baby room surveying what we needed and what needed to be done.

Then came our gift. He was born and we were hit with a ton of bricks...not at all what we expected...in fact we were disappointed and hurt. All babies are a gift, right? What happened?

We have moved far past our disappointment, into being absolutely grateful for the gift of Brayden and everything that comes along with him. He is such a joy. His little life is shaping us, refining us and the same with his brothers. We are becoming completely different people because of him...better people...much more than we expected.

God sent us a gift that was unexpected but He knew exactly what we needed.

Christmas time is all about celebrating and of course the gifts. Most importantly the gift of Jesus. I pray that you find many gifts this season, ones that are not under the tree.

Even the unexpected ones can be amazing.