Thursday, September 20, 2012

Present to the Moment: Today as Pure Gift!

Lake Superior

Today is a gift. All that we have—indeed our very breath—comes as a gift from God. It is pure gift!

Self-Giving God
Our God is a self-giving God. In goodness, God is ever-flowing, ever-giving and ever-loving. Before the creation of this time/space universe, God the Father spoke. In eternity God ushered forth the Word. It was the Father’s self-expression of love. That Word was the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, who in time came to earth.

God is love (1 John 4:8). Love is always giving. By nature, love has to pour forth one way or another. God the Father “so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). From this eternal font of God’s love we receive life as gift.

Goodness
Essential to God is his goodness. In Psalm 145, David describes that goodness:

The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
  slow to anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all;
  he has compassion on all he has made. . . .
The Lord is faithful to all his promises
  and loving toward all he has made.
The Lord upholds all those who fall
  and lifts up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
  and you give them their food at the proper time.

Our God is not only all-powerful, he is all good. His love for us flows from his fathomless goodness. In addition he is all-wise. He knows exactly when and how to supply food—and all of life’s provisions—in just the right time.

Pure Gift
Two years ago a godly wise woman said to me: Planning is good, but life is not simply about making plans and achieving them. Life is pure gift.

Those words were like a seed planted in my heart that has sprouted over time and is beginning to grow and bear fruit. It has led me to some valuable questions that are shaping my inner growth. I leave a few of these questions with you to explore over the coming days and weeks.

-What would it be like to live life as gift?
- How can I enter today with openness and receptivity?
-What needs to change in my thinking—my view of the Lord and my approach to life?
- How can I receive today from God as pure gift?

© 2012 Glenn E. Myers