The Ugly Christmas Sweater

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of all he created.                James 1:17-18

After weeks of fighting crowds and standing in lines, most of us are tired of being in stores of any kind. Yet, according to a Wall Street Journal article, hundreds of us flock to stores to return more that $600 billion worth of merchandise in the days following Christmas. How about you? Are you making plans to return an ugly sweater or that casserole dish you know you’ll never use? Did you save gift receipts for your family and loved ones?

Some gifts just don’t work out. No matter how hard we try, we do not always know what someone else wants or needs. We may think we have come up with the perfect present for someone only to see them standing in the return line. It’s possible that our choices are not as perfect as we thought.

But God’s gifts are different. He knows exactly what we need. The gifts He places in our lives are good and perfect, although He has a way of giving us things we would have never asked for or sought out for ourselves. Yet, in the end, they are always exactly right for us.

Is there something that God has placed in your life that you wouldn’t mind returning? You’re not alone. We do not always understand His gifts. Your struggle or misfortune may seem like an ugly sweater that surely must have been intended for someone else. But He makes no mistakes, my friend. Whether our trials have come as a consequence of sin, as a thorn from Satan, or as something straight from the hand of God, we can still trust that He will turn it something good and perfect. Let’s choose to accept what God allows to come way, knowing that He will make something beautiful out or whatever we face.

Blessings to you my friends

Eileen

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