Mysterious Gifts

When speaking of gifts of mystery my memory drifts back to a Christmas when I was a teen. Mom wrapped a large gift in sheets and placed it behind the tree for what seemed like weeks before Christmas. Everyday I would prod her for answers. Clues even. I would beg and plead and we'd laugh. She delighted in the game. Giving the gift brought her joy but she also had the added pleasure of keeping me guessing.

God had a mystery gift for the whole of humanity. This would remain hidden in secret until the time had fully come to be birthed into a stumped world. An incomprehensible gift of love that God would deliver through Mary. When this was revealed to her through the angel Gabriel she asked; "How will this be since I am a virgin?" [Lk 1:34] It was a complete mystery to her.

The advent of the Messiah's first coming was shrouded in mystery. There is the beautiful and amazing mystery of Mary's conception. The early followers of Christ I imagine must have lived in a perpetual state of curiosity. Nicodemus was greatly puzzled at the thought of rebirth. The list grows from generation after generation.

God still has many mysterious gifts. Among them are the entire spiritual realm we know nothing of. The righteousness of Christ and the new life we receive upon baptism into Christ is indefinable. That we are born again as a new creation and the temple of the Holy Spirit cannot be adequately explained. Only believed.

We have God's mysterious gift of our promised resurrection; the world's redemption; a new earth as an eternal dwelling.

And what can be more arcane than our Lord's return. This advent we live in leading up to His 2nd coming is, too, shrouded in mystery. Why? Faith! God takes great pleasure in our believing. In our trusting.

The gifts of God are wrapped in the beauty of the truth of His Word. We need not unwrap them to accept them, receive them. We need not see what lies beneath to believe them as good and perfect gifts.

Heavenly Father; I have faith to believe. I receive Your gifts though I understand not. The most beautiful of all the gifts You have given is that precious Baby, wrapped in clothes and laid in a manger. The True Gift of Christmas, the Great Mystery of God, we celebrate with thanksgiving in this, our season of advent. In Christ Jesus, Amen.