Wednesday in the Word: Good and Perfect Gifts

Love it, hate it, or deny its existence, Christmas in July is everywhere. I have to admit, I’ve watched my share of holiday movies through the month of July. The reason why may be a topic for another blog post. But today, I opened up my Instagram and found another love of my life at Christmas. The Hallmark Christmas ornaments are out!

I couldn’t help myself. I perused nineteen pages of Hallmark ornaments, taking screen shots of my favorites. My husband will get those later. I do have a birthday in December, after all. But I noticed something else as I looked at the ornaments. I kept finding ones that would be perfect for my kids. Characters from their childhood loves popped up on my screen. I found myself snapping pictures of those too.

When my kids still lived at home, that would have made sense. I bought my children a new ornament each year. I purchased specific ones as reminders of an event they’d experienced or something they were interested in that year. As they grew up and moved out, each child had ornaments to begin their own Christmas decorating traditions. Hopefully, like me, when they take them out each year, they will be more than decorations. They will be memories.

When my daughter unpacks the yellow paper mache heart with the Precious Moments nativity on it, she will remember it was the year she told us she asked Jesus in her heart. When my son unpacks the little artist bear standing next to an easel, he will think back on the year he started kindergarten. Hopefully, my children will consider each ornament a piece of their childhood and take time to remember how far they’ve come.

I pray it will be the same with me. I may not have a physical tree gifted to me by God, but I have ornaments I can unpack in my life that remind me of how I’ve grown and the gifts He has given me. Sometimes, it’s a photograph. A literal picture of what He’s done. Cards and letters remind me of special times or lessons learned. A note in the margin of my Bible can spark the memory of an answered prayer. A business card pinned to my cork board takes me back to that special time of fellowship with an author friend.

Seeing these things, I have a choice. I can skim over them and go on with my day treating them as nothing more than decorations in my life. Pretty but not much use. Or I can pause for a moment in my day, consider the meaning they have in who I was and who I am now, and take a moment to thank the Giver of such perfect gifts.

What are some of the ornaments, literal or figurative, you enjoy in your life?

James 1:17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”