It's A Gift

            We got several inches of snow last week.  That’s not unusual around here in March, of course.  The nice weather we’ve had most of the winter is what’s unusual, not the snow.  Still, it meant that there was a bunch of snow in my driveway, and that snow was going to have to be cleared before I could get my car out. 

Now, understand that I’m perfectly capable of shoveling snow.  However, as I wrote last time, the parish is without a secretary right now.  That means Wanda and I have been doing the secretarial work, along with all the other things we do.  I don’t mean to sound like I’m complaining about that, because I’m not, but we only have twenty-four hours in a day like everyone else.  I was worried that, if I had to spend a couple of hours shoveling snow, there were some other things that simply weren’t going to get done.

Lo and behold, I didn’t have to.  While I was at the office, some kind people came by and cleared the driveway for us.  That was an incredibly wonderful gift that was.  All I had to do was say thank you and accept it.

The thing is, though that the way the human mind works—or at least the way this human’s mind works—I had a hard time doing that.  I had a hard time accepting this as just a gift.  Instead, I tried to think of reasons why they had done this for us.  Maybe they appreciate the work I’ve done for the church.  Maybe they respect the office of pastor.  Maybe they’re going to want something in return.  These thoughts and more crossed my mind as I thought about this.

Then it occurred to me how wrong this line of thinking is.  Thinking of “reasons” why someone gave me a gift is really kind of an insult to the giver.  It’s disrespectful.  It dishonors the gift.  The definition of a gift is “something given voluntarily without expectation of payment in return, as to show favor to someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance.”  To start thinking or “reasons” why someone gives me a gift is to say that I don’t think it was a gift at all.  After all, a true gift does not need a reason beyond a desire to give.

I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks this way, though.  I’ve noticed that a lot of other people seem to have trouble accepting gifts, too. 

When we take it into the religious realm, a lot of people seem to have trouble accepting the salvation that God offers us.  We question why God would offer salvation to us.  We wonder if we’re good enough to deserve it.  We start thinking we need to do something to earn it.  These and more thoughts cross our minds as we think about God’s gift of salvation to us.

This is not the right way to look at it.  Thinking of “reasons” why God offers us salvation is really kind of an insult to God.  It’s saying that we don’t think it’s really a gift at all.  Again, a true gift does not need a reason beyond a desire to give.

God does not need a reason to offer us the gift of salvation.  God did that because God loves us and has a desire to give salvation to us.  We don’t need to worry about the reasons why.  All we need to do is accept it as the incredibly wonderful gift it is.