Reflection for Tuesday 26 Jan 2021

Over the weekend I watched the “feel good “film Forest Gump.

On of the quotes from the film is where Forrest says,

“Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”

It brought to mind one of the presents I got for Christmas for my eldest daughter. The gift was contained in a small paper poke, which was filled with 20 small round balls. They were brown and coated very lightly with a white powder. They looked for all the world like home made truffle sweets.

A few days later, I decided to try them and popped one in my mouth. The taste was VILE and I quickly spat the “sweet” out. I next wondered if they might be miniature bath bombs and so I popped a couple into the bath, where they just floated on the water, doing nothing at all.

After a few days I contacted my daughter and asked what these wee brown balls were. Once she had stopped laughing, she told me they were in fact, seed bombs!! All I have to do is plant them in the garden and wait for flowers to grow. She then had to contact her church family to make sure no one else had tried to eat their gift.

I still don’t know what these wee bombs contain, and will have to wait for the blessing when after planting the flowers will eventually show forth.

The gift of the Saviour was not easily visible in the packages in which he was delivered.

He came wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Odd packaging for the King of Kings. And who would have thought that the Lord of Lords would have inhabited the body of the humblest of servants? Or that the conqueror of death, one day to be clothed in majesty, would be stripped from his clothes and crucified on a cross.

A manger and a cross.

Humility and death.

Strange gifts....... but those who receive them, know that the gift given at Christmas, is truly revealed at Easter. The gift planted in our hearts bringing the flowering of blessing after blessing.

The film Forrest Gump, is of course just a story, but it has a wonderful message of hope and encouragement. The young boy, the adult man, doesn’t allow the difficulties of life get him down, he holds fast to the words of the mother, and he lives a life of real blessing a life which in turn blesses others along the way.

I pray you will know the blessing of the Lord today, and enjoy the gift of life, life in all its fullness.

God bless,

Elizabeth