Surprise Me

You agonize over the choice of just the perfect gift. You spend weeks trying to decide if the gift is the right one or not. Finally, you go to the store, and pick up your choice. You buy paper, bow and ribbon, for surely a gift this special deserves the best "clothes" you can find for it.

The wrapping takes time -- each corner must be perfect, each piece of tape hidden from view. The bow is perfectly centered atop of the perpendicular ribbon. It is finally ready.

You present it to your loved one, and wait in anticipation as it is opened. This is the moment you have been waiting for -- that moment of surprise when the gift is revealed. Your biggest hope is that the recipient will somehow, from the gift, understand once again that the most important part of the package is the love which was wrapped all through it. You'll know the person understands when you see the look on his or her face -- surprise, delight, wonder.

Part of what I do at the church where I am a member is to work on our devotional ministry. These devotions are written by members of the church, and are distributed to anyone interested through a written booklet and through an email subscription.

One of the devotions which was written last week sparked a response from one of email subscribers. That reader, who lost her husband a year ago December, wrote to tell me how much a particular reading about new beginnings had touched her. When I read her email, I was convinced, once again, that God works through this ministry of our church to deliver grace upon grace to his children.

I forwarded the message on to the author of the devotion. She wrote back to me, saying, among other things, "...we expect God to use us and I guess we shouldn't be surprised when it happens."

For over a year now, I've been trying to walk around with "Open Eyes." I've been attempting to be open to the workings of God - to notice when He is at work. I've seen Him everywhere -- all around me. Each and every time, I am surprised. At this point, I expect to find him -- and yet every time I do, I find myself amazed by his presence, standing in wonder at his continued incarnation in the world. I don't ever want to NOT be surprised.

It is in the surprise, in the joy of his gifts and his presence that I find myself worshipping him.

The prayer at the end of today's Discipline devotion is this, "God of unexpected surprises, may we walk in the light of your promises this day. Amen." And Amen.

Note: The prayer was written by Amy Laura Hall, and published in Disciplines 2007.