What Gives?

Galatians 5:13 -- You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love."

image: baudville.com

Picking up the thin paper shader tool that came with my sketch pencils I blurred lines, created shadows, and put a little dimension into the adult human hand clasped tightly by a baby's little round fingers. The black and white image was definitely starting to show some promise. I smiled to myself as I thought of the cousin for whom this was going to be a gift. I had yet to meet her new addition to our Saunders clan - but I couldn't wait to lay eyes on her new baby.

Signing the bottom right hand corner with my customary ksd, I was interrupted by one of our cats, Djibouti, as she pounced up onto the desk to "help" me with the finishing touches. Oh, she's quite the little "helper", that one. She helps me write the blog, she helps me fold the laundry, she helps me brush my teeth .... I've become accustomed to her frequent interruptions. Usually all it takes is a little "corporal hugging" and she's off and on her way - leaving me to finish my task undisturbed while I pick some of her long, silky hair off of my lips.

When little miss prissy pants jumped back down to the floor, however, I was left with a big, juicy red smear from one corner of my sketch to the other - and a very recently deceased tree frog.

Ick!

Now, I know this is an expression of love from a cat - and I suppose I appreciated the sentiments of the gift - but I was rather unhappy that a couple hours worth of work had just been flushed down the proverbial toilet.

...and, I kinda felt bad for the poor frog.

Ya know - nearly every species of living thing on this planet has a way of gift-giving. It's a wonderful thing, really. Cats, for example - gift their kills to their human companions. An extraordinary thing when you think about it, because the animal is willingly giving up a something that might mean the difference between life and starving to death. Some birds present colorful little bits and bobbles to their mates when they are nesting to show their eagerness and ability to provide for spouse and future family. Dogs? Well, every wonderful lick of the tongue or wag of the tail is really a great gift, isn't it? And - even some bugs indulge in ceremonies that indicate intent - and what could only be interpreted as desire.

In the gift department - the act of giving itself doesn't set us apart from much of nature. What DOES set us apart, though? -- a human being will give even when he/she is struggling personally. Most creatures in nature will not be generous if they are not doing well for themselves. A cat will really only gift a kill if it's well fed and doesn't have to rely on the carcass for food.

You and I, though - WE give - even when we are hurting.

I know a woman that provided home-cooked meals for a friend that had been dealing with some serious health issues - even though she'd just experienced the death of a parent. I have a wonderful friend that will go out of her way to give me words of encouragement - even though she's going through a heartache in her own family. And I know countless individuals who will give of their time - even though it's a precious and rare thing for them to have any of it to themselves.

Jesus? -- now HE really gave, didn't he? He gave his own life for all of us - even though it meant being physically separated from his Father. And - along with the excruciating pain of being crucified, Jesus had to deal with the agony of betrayal by those that were supposed to be his friends! Not to mention the fact that his own people [NOT the Romans] were the ones ensuring that the death penalty was swiftly executed.

THAT's harsh, my friends.

With the gift of Jesus' life in exchange for our own - we were given freedom. We have the freedom to be apart from sin and the freedom to one day meet Jesus and our very Creator face to face!

THAT is a beautiful, beautiful gift! AND - it's the one gift we've been given that is perfectly acceptable - nay, ENCOURAGED - to re-gift! In fact, it grows as we continue to share this gift with others.

So what shall we do with this extraordinary gift that we've been given? Do we use it?  ...like full diplomatic immunity?

No. That is - we SHOULDN'T. Instead we should take this amazing and truly beautiful, freely given gift - and freely gift others.

As a nation given the most freedom of any group of people on earth we get all excited and revved up when it comes to sharing freedom with other countries. As individuals freely saved by Jesus - we should do the same thing.

Freely give.