With Christmas behind us, I was recently doing some reflecting on the whole idea of giving and receiving gifts. There's a great story that C.S. Lewis tells in his book Mere Christianity that examines this. His story is about a small child who wants to buy a present for his father, but must ask his father for the money first. When the son presents the gift to his dad, of course the father is pleased...but he is also "sixpence none the richer" since he had to pay for the gift in the first place. When we talk of doing anything for God...or giving anything as a gift, I guess that's what it is really like...we give our best gifts...but really, can we claim any ownership to the gifts we are giving? Can we claim any ownership to the gifts we receive?
I've been pondered this story quite a bit lately...recently Amanda and I moved into a beautiful new home...we are renting the home...it is not ours, but we have been entrusted with taking care of it. It seems that this kind of thing keeps happening to us lately...and I'm realizing that it's for a reason...we're learning how to hold on to things lightly...we're learning how to be thankful for what we have without saying "This is mine!"
During the process of adoption you slowly realize how powerless you are to "force" things to happen...and you begin to realize how much you will be entrusted with when you are finally able to adopt...and so much of it depends on the willingness of a stranger to simply give...someone that we don't know who somewhere, right now may be making the choice that will change both of our lives...
