A Special Gift

Each year as the temperature drops and the snow begins to fall, I’m drawn to back to a time when I was a young child attending public school.  Every year as we students sat at our desks, we were asked to write about a given subject.  One of the writing subjects was: If you could give the world one gift what would it be?

As a 2nd through 4th grader I picked the same topic each year I sat at my desk my mind was a whirlwind of thoughts.  I’d sit and hope that by looking at my sheet of notebook paper in front of me I’d know how to answer the question, putting all my thoughts into sentences and paragraphs that actually made sense.  I’d scribble my words down and then my thoughts would jumble, and then I’d erase half of what I’d written.  Why couldn’t I just write out all the words that were running in my little head onto the piece of paper?  I’d twirl my pencil and look at the white board in the front of the room and then back at my paper until the words finally came out.

It went something like this:

If I could give the world one gift it would be peace.  With so many wars and fighting going on in the world, peace would help immensely.  Peace is important and I think the world could benefit greatly from it.  If there was more peace on earth people would be nice to each other, the wars would stop, and fighting would end.  There would be peace amongst all individuals.  What a different world it would be.  This is exactly why I would give the world the gift of peace!

Simple, sweet, and to the point I was.  It had to be summoned up in one short paragraph so I had to make it work.  And I did.

These days as I think back to this assignment, I ask myself the same question almost 20 years later.  If I could give the world one gift what would it be?

If you could give the world one gift what would it be?  Yes, I’m asking you, the Reader, to think about this too.

After pondering it for a time I know my answer.

If I could give the world one gift it would be for all people to have peace in their life. Meaning, that every person on the face of the earth would come to a place in their life where they cry out to Papa God for help because they know they need help, forgiveness, and freedom.  Maybe they would be sick and tired of the life they are living.  That they’d realize choosing to run after people, money, sex, food, and various other addictions isn’t filling that void in them, nor is any of it giving them lasting peace.  Peace can’t be found through something that isn’t REAL, full of life, and full of love.  I’m not trying to push my beliefs on you.  Actually, quite the contrary.   Let me explain…

It’s time for some self examination.  What in your life right now would you like to have peace in?  Is it in one area, or many areas?  What does peace look like and feel like to you?  What do you envision peace throughout all areas of your life could be like?

If you read my blog A New Heart when I was sharing my personal health journey story, you know where I stand with my faith.  This being said, I can’t write this blog without saying that my peace came straight from my Papa God, when I came to saving faith on a cold December night.  My life changed completely… although yes, it was and is still a continuous process to work through obstacles and have peace even in storms.

Here’s the thing, peace isn’t tangible indefinitely without God in our lives, him being truly in our heart.  We can chase people, money, drugs, sex, food, work, and any other addiction we want, but it will never fill that void providing us with peace.  Sure it might temporarily fill our compulsive wants, but it won’t bring lasting peace.  It’s just not possible.

Peace is something that we all seem to want in our lives.  What if we could find peace through our faith?  What if faith isn’t about going to church every Sunday or going through a religious checklist?  What if faith is a one on one personal relationship with our Papa God?  What if God was willing to give us peace in our lives through simply having a personal relationship with him?  A lot of “what if” questions.  All that can be offers of peace IF we choose to have a personal relationship with God.  Again, I’m not pushing my beliefs on you, but instead I’m telling you that there is a way to have peace in our everyday lives, 365 days a year, 24 hours of everyday.  It’s possible, but it’s a choice.

Today if I could give the world one gift, it would be for each of us to have absolute peace in our life provided to us through the only way possible in this world, through God.  Papa God is the only one who has the power to give it to us, but we have to be willing to receive it.  It’s ours for the taking if only you choose to ask for it.  Humbling ourselves, forgiving ourselves, forgiving others, and being willing to stop running to addictions that aren’t bringing real peace into our lives isn’t helping us.  Only God can help us if we want to help ourselves.  God loves us so deeply and profoundly, it’s simply beyond our human comprehension.  But we don’t have to comprehend it, that’s not our job.  Papa wants us to delight in him as he delights in us.  He wants us to have peace in our lives, but he wants us to come to him to receive it.  He’s waiting for each and everyone of us with arms wide open, a heart and being so full of love, and a hug that’s ready to envelope you with a peace that is life changing.  It’s ours for the taking IF we choose to believe in him.

God’s got a special gift that only he can give.  No one else in this world can give it.  No item, possession, or food can provide you with this feeling like you have enough.  Only Papa God can give you peace.  If and when you hit a place in your life when you want it, all you have to do is simply ask and cry out to Papa.  He’s waiting for us with arms wide open.  And that hug, it’s going to be the best hug you’ve ever received in your life.   Peace IS tangible, but only through our Papa God.  Simply reach out to receive that special gift of peace.