Alyson looked at the odd box wrapped in ugly paper. It was her birthday gift. The name card had fallen off so she wasn’t sure who had brought it for her. Surprise parties were not her favorite. She knew it would be hard but she would act as grateful as possible and open it. She could always sell what was sure to be a ghastly object on craigslist or eBay.
As the paper came off the box to reveal nothing more but the plain cardboard she took and breath and then looked inside. There it was in the middle of all the Styrofoam packing peanuts the very figurine she had dreamed of owning, and now her set was complete. She smiled widely as her best friend started to laugh from across the room.
“I found it in San Antonio last Spring,” Karen quipped, “I’ve been dying to show it to you.”
Sometimes those that love us best know how to surprise us with gifts wrapped in things we don’t like and would never choose. They learned it from God. He brings his surprises often in shapes we don’t recognize or appreciate.
Part of the reason is that he wants to see if we will open it simply because we believe Him to be good. Can you trust Him when He doesn’t look like He can be trusted? Can you trust Him when it is hard to even see that He is there? “Every good gift, and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17) God’s goodness is sometimes not evident, but it is always present.
