The Gift of the Lover

If Twitter had been around in 1400 AD, Thomas a Kempis would have been a superstar. Here’s what he might have ‘tweeted’ . . .

“A wise lover regards not so much the gift of him who loves as the love of him who gives.”

A Kempis was (obviously) talking about God. Most of us first come to Him looking for a gift. We want His gift of forgiveness. We want His gift of healing from an accident or an illness or His gift of healing in a relationship with a wife or a kid or a boss. As we get to know Jesus, we come to appreciate His love somewhat separate from His gifts. We trust His love even when the gifts aren’t exactly what we asked for. We’ve matured when we can thank Him for these too.

A Kempis’ principle carries over to our spouses. My friend John sees every stack of clean laundry as a gift from Martha. He knows there’s love behind it. I’ll bet if you think for a minute, you can come up with a few things you and your wife do for each other that are outgrowths of your love but aren’t commonly thought of as ‘gifts’.

Today, spend some time thinking about the ‘lover’ behind the gift. Reflect on things she does that you take for granted. Thank God for her and then find just the right time to thank her specifically for things she does for you and your family that are ‘thank-less’ from day to day.

Along those same lines, we want to thank you for reading these posts. There’s a ton of stuff you could read . . . a plethora of people wanting to get your ‘eyeballs’ or sell you something. On Monday, we asked you to tell us a little more about yourself . . . about where you are in your life. Rest assured, we’re not gonna’ start ‘marketing’ to you. So relax.

We plan to keep posting two or three times each week just like we always have. But we DO want to make one of those posts a little more specific to you . . . more relevant to where you are in your walk. Some of you aren’t ready to mentor right now . . . you’re just trying to hang onto God, your job and your marriage. A lot of pastors and ministry people read what we post. And then there are those mentors and mentees who know firsthand what Radical Mentoring is all about.

We’ve come up with three descriptions and we’d like you to select the one that best fits you right now. If you made a selection last time, THANK YOU. You don’t need to do it again. If you didn’t, please do it now. Please.

Again, let me say a big ‘thank you’ for reading these posts and for all the kind words you’ve shared about them.

So . . . Merry Christmas! I love you guys.

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