Gentle Reader,
Our questions: what is holiness? Do we want to be holy? What is freedom?
Now, another: how good are we at accepting gifts?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. … And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. … For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
– John 1:1-5, 14; Romans 6:23 (NRSV)
I’m not great with gifts. When someone asks me what I want for Christmas or my birthday, I usually say “books.” And I’m not lying. I don’t collect anything. I’m not a tchotchke person. I can’t stand clutter. Now, if you’re someone who loves to collect things and finds joy in having every surface of your home covered in bits and bobs that mean something to you, great. No judgment. That’s just not me. Chris and I have lived in our home for about two-and-half years now and there are still a lot of bare walls. That doesn’t bother me. I’ll put something up only if I truly like it. (And even then it might come down after awhile).
As for purchasing gifts for others – it’s stressful. I’m not obtuse; I know what the people in my life enjoy. But what if they already bought that thing? Or wanted it in a different shade? What if someone else got them the same thing?
Then there’s the weirdness of gift giving. Some people love to give things and they have no expectations of receiving. It just brings them joy. It’s how they show others they care. But others, there’s that ripple of tension underneath the surface of the action. You sense it. Just as Pinocchio had strings, so does this box or bag.
So. Can we please just do gift cards?
I haven’t thought about how my discomfort with gifts and the processes associated with them impacts my relationship with God until, you know, yesterday. No hyperbole there. God freely gives Godself to us. And as holiness is one of the essential, if not the essential, characteristic of God, then that means God freely gives us holiness. Just as we don’t have to earn grace or mercy or love, we don’t have to earn holiness. We can just reach out and take it from God’s open hand.
Maybe you already knew this. Maybe I’m a little slow on the uptake.
Yes, we have to choose to submit to God. To cooperate with God. To ask God to reorient our hearts and minds toward that which pleases God. But we don’t do those things and then find holiness. It’s already there. Perhaps just a little kernel of something planted deep within at first. Perhaps we don’t quite notice it. But it’s there. A power and purity and rightness that enables us to live as God always intended us to.
Holiness is a gift.
Not one we even had sense enough to ask for or to long for, but one God knows we need.
Again, I might be slower than you. I have no problem admitting that. But I’m wondering how the ways in which we relate to God might change if we actually embrace the reality that it’s all a gift. Not abuse or cheapen the gift by doing whatever we want, smugly confident that we’ll be forgiven. Not forget the gift by being paralyzingly anxious every moment of the day, fearing that we’ll fall out of God’s hands. Embrace the gift.
Really, embrace God.
What if that’s what God wants from us? What if God’s arms are open so wide, just waiting for us to hug God tightly? What if everything starts with, is sustained by, and ends in that embrace?
GRACE AND PEACE ALONG THE WAY,
MARIE
Image Courtesy of Skön Communication