What gifts teach us about the Giver

Blowing and chasing bubbles on sticky summer days. Riding Big Wheels and Cozy Coupes around the carport as fast as their little legs would allow them to pedal. Listening to favorite books. Laughing at new movies. Eating snacks and baking their own creations. Cuddling with their favorite stuffed animals at naptime, then waking refreshed to play games and enjoy the best of childhood.

These are just a few of the memories my daughter and her cousins have of playing together over the years. My sisters and I had the thrill of expecting our first babies together. They were born only a month apart – Gavin in November, Kendall (my only child and the only girl in the bunch) in December, and Grant in January.

Now these three are 17 years old, with three younger brothers trailing pretty close behind them. While we cannot imagine where the time has gone, we look back with such fondness (and tears!) at the fun memories we have of them as children growing up together. 

In order to commemorate these times, my mother spent the last couple years planning memory quilts for each of her six grandchildren. She wrote down memories they all share together of fun times. She also made lists of special foods, toys, and hobbies specific to each child. She began hunting online for fabrics that would symbolize each of these special events or toys. Once she had everything she needed, she made six customized twin-sized quilts.

On Christmas Eve, she surprised the grandkids with their quilts, going over each one in detail for all of us. And there wasn’t a dry eye in the place as we recalled Gavin’s favorite toy as a toddler – a teeny tiny stuffed koala, memorialized on his quilt with some koala fabric. Or the square of fabric on Grant’s quilt that stands for his compassion for others. 

Or the fabric on Kendall’s quilt with a cat on it to memorialize the day Mom took a very young Kendall to a yard sale, and Kendall had declared that she would find a stuffed cat – and actually found one and bought it. Or Lincoln’s love of gold coins and jewelry as a toddler – forever remembered on his quilt with a patch of gold fabric. 

Or Gibson’s ability to find the most minuscule of insects whenever we played outside; they were so small none of us could see them, but he could, and he loved to pick them up and show them to us. Or Jackson’s love of red foxes, commemorated in the squares of his quilt.

We are so touched by the gift of these kids – now teens – and so grateful for such beautiful moments with them. And to see it all stitched together with love by my mother is a treasure we won’t soon forget. 

I was thinking about this, since we recently celebrated a season of giving, how much we love giving good gifts to our kids. Part of the thrill of being a parent (or grandparent, for sure) is being able to surprise our children with beautiful, thoughtful gifts. And God as our Father is no different in this respect. Jesus told us in Matthew 7:9-11:  Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

And again in James, we are told that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17).

These musings were brought on by a comment made in my Bible study group yesterday. As you may recall from an earlier blog post, I am studying Revelation with a lovely group of ladies, and we have made it almost to the end. It has been intense, but we are now getting to the extravagantly joyful part of it, where John describes the New Jerusalem. 

Revelation 21:15-17 tells us how big the city will be:

The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. 

Several ladies in my class were commenting on how they were numbers people, and as such, how much they appreciated John including the dimensions. I laughed and had to confess that I am not a numbers person in the slightest. However, I am a lover of pretty things, especially precious stones. And so I really enjoyed verses 18-21:

The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.

And one of the ladies exclaimed, “How much God must love us to be preparing this for us!” She is so right. For we as parents – and imperfect ones, at that – get excited about the things we give our kids, which will fade and tear and wear out. How much more excited must God be to give us good, eternal things!

Ephesians 3:14-21 says:  For this reason I kneel before the Father,from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.