Lent words - Day 3 ~ Gift

Whoa this is a big word... Gift(s) ... I want to split this into 3 different areas

  1. Our Gifts, what we do with them, and the ability to give them
  2. Gifts of others, how we appreciate them and our ability to receive them
  3. Gratitude for the gifts that are bestowed upon us

In the capitalistic world we immediately think of gifts as things we hand over at times of celebration... birthdays, religious events... etc. Where we join in the act of giving and receiving as part of an 'organised for us' ritual... and of course this misses the point pretty much entirely... nice as though they might be.

(1) Gifts come in many forms. We are all amazing and unique. In today's world of assessment, labelling and comparison, many of us no longer even see our own gifts let alone recognise them and appreciate them. We are full to the brim of ... I'm not good enough... I'm rubbish compared to others... I'm just no good... 

We all have so much to give... and yet we are herded, measured, and broken until we end up believing we are nothing special. It doesn't matter who you are, where you are from, or whether you can pass an exam or not, every single one of us is provided with untold gifts... we just need to find them... DON'T GIVE UP THE SEARCH... appreciate even the search to find them, and when you discover those gifts, go serve the people who need them relentlessly...

(2) We meet so many people in our lives... and we are guilty of categorising, labelling... putting people into boxes and yet haven't even taken the time to find out about the persons journey. So quick to measure and move on... we read the last page of a persons life and think we know them... how amazing if we took the time to genuinely see peoples gifts... and if they offer those gifts to us... receive them... I think receiving other peoples gifts is one of the hardest things I have had to learn... to deny someone the ability to give to you when they really want too is tough for the giver... imagine if you were not able to give to someone you really wanted to... they rejected it... how would you feel?

(3) Gratitude is probably the single most important thing to bring in my life... it massively reduces the dominance of ego... it introduces a much greater level of humility and brings about changes in the ability to be compassionate, understanding, considerate/.. the list goes on... appreciating what we have... our health... another day to make a difference... the people we can interact with... food... shelter... clean water, nature... we really do have an existence many only dream about...

Every single day we 'wake up' is a gift... let us use this gift in the best possible way...

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