The Gifts!

One year our Sunday School staff handed out Christmas gifts to the students. The gifts were wrapped, and no names were placed on them. There were two piles of age-specific gifts to select from. As the students' names were called, they were each directed to pick a gift from the pile appropriate for their age bracket.

The gift wrapping was an assortment of different colors and designs. Some packages were large, some small, some curved, some round, and the student's choice was of their own guessing. Like Forrest Gump said, "life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get," the students had no clue.

After all the selections were made, the students remained standing in a row at the front of the church, unopened gifts in hand. At that moment I was thinking, that's how God hides our gifts in us.

To be sure, those students could not wait to tear open their gifts; and likewise, we as Christians should be anxious and diligent in discovering those things that we're gifted with to be used for God's glory. How do we do that? Open the gift of God's word, the Bible, and see what it reveals to you.

God's gift to the world is His only begotten Son, Jesus. We are all invited to receive it. The gifts God placed in us are for us to magnify Him and His glory. The Book of John says that Jesus is the Light of mankind. When we give our lives to Him, His spirit brings out all the best in us—we discover who we really are with meaning and purpose.

So, in a sense, we are all just like those Sunday School students:

When Melvin opened up his gift, he found... he was a doctor!

When Debra opened up her gift, she found... she was a school teacher!

When Alvin opened up his gift, he found... he was a composer!

When Phylecia opened up her gift, she found... she was a videographer!

When Steven opened up his gift, he found he was... an air traffic controller!

Get my drift? If you have not yet discovered your gift, then read the Bible, pray and trust and believe that God will reveal it to you. Then you can have a very merry, Merry Christmas, and a prosperous New Year!

—Larry S. Buford is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the author of "Things Are Gettin' Outta Hand" and "Book To The Future" (Amazon and Barnes & Noble).