Gift of Life ...

Like most children I have always LOVED getting presents for birthday and christmas. I could hardly sleep the night before my birthday, and since christmas in Denmark is celebrated in the evening of december 24th, the day felt v e r y long, and part of it was used for practising the chrismas carrols, so I knew each of them by heart when finally the candles were lit in the christmas tree ...

Over the years I have begun to love GIVING presents as much as (or maybe even more) recieving them. Especially when I´m fullhearted into it, which mostly I am. The joy of choosing a special piece of gift-paper, the right coloured string, and a card that matches what is inside the present. The exitement of seing or hearing about the response from the reciever, and whether the gift was "right" for the person. It´s all an overspill of love in the end, and eventually a way of expressing this love or care or appreaciation for another, by giving a fysical gift.

What came to my mind today was, that actually my life is like that; A Gift from God ... My spirit and soul, and what else lives inside of me, is "wrapped up" in the body and clothes, and surrounded by the home I live in, which is surrounded by the country I live in, and by the Planet and the Universe.
A wise man once said "What is on the outside is on the inside, but what is on the inside is not necessarily on the outside". So like a gift is wrapped in paper, the paper can tell something about what is on the inside of the package, but what is really on the inside is still hidden until it is unwrapped.
So looking at a human being, one can often tell what life has been like for that person, but not all of their experiences or feelings or values are seen on the outside - though felt perhaps, if one is sensitive ...

SO - could it be, that this gift from God - which life is to me - comes with an agreement, that I accept "the whole package", which might involve having certain obstacles in life, like fx being handicapped in some way, loosing parents early in life, being allergic, having struggles in school etc. etc. (the above mentioned is only examples, not personal experiences)? Or is it that I expect life to be perfect, be wrapped up in pink paper, or else I get annoyed? Could it be that each of us have got a unique life with the necessary obstacles to overcome, because God - from love and care - knows that that is exactely what we need in this life?

I don´t know if this makes any sense to you, but to me it did, when it came to my mind. And it also makes me think, that in stead of envying another of their seemingly "perfect" - and nicely looking - life, I am meant to see and appreaciate my own life as the unique and special gift it is - and to share it and give to others what they might want and need. And in that way feel the joy and exitement, which I feel when giving a "fysical" birthday present to another... :-)

Have a "gifted" Weekend