God's imperfect gifts

When we read theology about God and God-likenss, we read about perfection. In fact, we read terms like all knowing, all goodness, all perfection. So, if this is true, then why are God's gift's so all-flawed?

I come to this question as I remember my cat, Buttons, the cat that came as an answer to prayer. My gift from God.  It happened like this: I had transferred to a new monastery and felt lonely and homesick. I prayed I would "see" a kitty. Instead, I found a little kitten abandoned by its mother, curled up in the leaves. He was about 4 weeks old, scrawny, flea ridden, tiny, and needed someone to care for him. I was allowed to keep him. It was a true gift from God.

But this gift was not perfect. He was not the sweet, cuddly kitten I wanted. As a feral kitty, he retained his wild streak as he grew up, which he unleashed on me when I least wanted it. He was fussy about his food and easily upset if he didn’t get his way. And he used to wake me up early, really early.

One time I looked at this "gift from God" and wondered, why did my gift have to be so imperfect? If God is so perfect, why can't God's gifts be perfect too?

And then I thought, perhaps it is my concept that is flawed. Perhaps my flawed thinking comes from the human experience.  Ever ask someone for help and have them take over? Like since you asked, somehow you are deficient, and they must do it themselves. Ask, and you will be controlled.

God is not like that. When you ask God for a gift, God does not take over. God does not treat you or me like we are so deficient that we cannot handle life. Instead, God gives us what is very fallible. Because God knows, we can handle it. We can take those gifts and figure it out. God does not need to take over in our lives and treat us as idiots. God has greater respect for us than that.

So, when I remember Buttons, I remember the good as well as the difficult. I remember how I had him for 14 years. I remember how I would find him waiting for me at the door every single time I came home. I remember how he loved to sleep on my feet, nap in whatever room I settled in, and would talk to me. I remember him with fondness, because despite his flaws, he was truly my gift from God.

And so, when I receive an imperfect gift from God, I want to remember, I can handle it. Because even though God's gift is not perfect, it is right for me.

If you but knew the gift of God

I love some of the thoughts of Bernard Bro. He writes on Jesus and the power of love: Jesus loves as a pure gift, for the sake of nothing...He makes others better by loving them. Not only does he not accuse their mediocrity, although it is his full right to do so--he takes up their defense and gives his heart, his time, his trust.

I tend to forget that Jesus loves differently than I do, for Jeusus does not love for gain, or for need. He loves for the good it does me, and that kind of love is in itself a healing and empowering thing.

This is the kind of love Jesus invites me to follow. Think of the lives I might change if I offered a love that did not accuse or seek some selfish gain! Think of how I could help change the world if I gave a love that healed the despondent, bruised, or wounded heart and gave that heart hope?

Bro goes on to say: He [Jesus] calls forth, arouses, renews the best part in us, the part that is good and filled with hope and is always hidden in each and every person...and everyone who meets him once again begins to believe, to have trust in God and in themselves.

That line, renews the best part in us is worth all of my knowledge and learning. For if what is good is brought forth, I will leave behind that which drags me down and injures. And when I have trust in God and in myself, I have already conquered, regardless my circumstances.

"I desire mercy, not sacrifice," we read in Hosea 6:6. The words are more than poetic. They contain the secret to true power and change. As John 4:10 says, “If you but knew the gift of God.” God’s way of loving us is true gift. And  Lent is a good time to search and  remember that love, and pass it on.

Remembering gifts

Friends. We all have them. But sometimes we do not realize just how many we have or how far they are wiling to go for us until we get into some kind of fix, and they come to our rescue.

This past week, I got myself into such a fix. Sure enough, friends from afar went above and beyond to take care of the situation for me. And I sat there and thought, I am so blessed.

The situation made me think about my forgotten gifts. Such as friends.  Especially friends that I do not see on a regular basis, but who are there for me none-the-less.

I think God is a forgotten gift. Like my friends, God is there for me regardless of my awareness. But often, it takes a need, a pain, or a struggle before I stop to think of the Divine Being. And unlike some of my friends, God is not far away.

It is good to remember: God is closer to me than I am to myself. It is up to me to remember...

The gift of God

If you but knew the gift of God... The words come to my mind often. In hindsight I am quick to see the gifts given, the obstacle that forced me to make a choice, to move on, or to turn around; the long darkness that taught me to seek God within instead of outside myself. The seemingly insignificant voice in my head that, when followed, proved to be a blessing. Yes, as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

But why do I wait for hindsight? Can I not see the gift of God, here and now? And do I always have to be the beneficiary to see it as a gift? Perhaps this incident, this occasion is given to me so that another may have a gift. Perhaps I am meant to be their gift, by being there at the right time, or missing out so another may have.

It comes back to vision, and how we perceive. I like to think of the gift of God as something that benefits myself. I need to broaden my vision and remember the whole people of God, those outside my little sphere. I need to trust more, so that I can believe in the gift before I make sense of it, or without needing it to please me.

It is all part of my pilgrim journey.