Imperfect Gifts

   Remember when you used to bring home gifts for your parents which you'd made at school or in secret in your bedroom?  The Valentine with the misspelled words and smeared glue, the misshapen clay pot with indecipherable pictures, the potholder with sections of missing weave?   They received these gifts, if we were blessed with merciful parents, as if they were the most perfect and exquisite offerings ever given them. They oohed and aahed and squeezed the stuffings out of us with apparent delight at our creation.

   You've probably heard the expression, "If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it." However, you'll find there not just your picture but every imperfect attempt at pleasing Him and expressing your love. Every gesture of mercy and kindness you've extended to others, every attempt to express His Truth in an inhospitable world, every courageous stance you've taken at the expense of the approbation of those whose opinion matters to you, every time you've resisted the temptation to hide inside the security of His love and let the world go wheresoever it will, and instead subjected yourself to ridicule and condemnation.  No matter how flawed your efforts, how inarticulate your words, or how ineffective the results, He receives your gift with gladness. You will find He has not only posted your presents on His frig, but placed others on His coffee table, His nightstand, and His display case. He shows them proudly to His angels and His family in Heaven. No offering of love is ever rejected, and He can and will take your meager offering of a few small loaves and fish and do something wonderful with them, as only He can.
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If you think someone could use some encouragement and unconditional love today, feel free to share this, or any of the Morning Manna posts.
Julie