The Gift by my friend Wilny Audain

 

The Gift

I have very few memories of celebrating Christmas when I was growing up. Needless to say I wasn’t one of those children who received gifts on Christmas day.  Before you start feeling sorry for me, please realize that I think it was a cultural thing with my family.  I really didn’t miss the celebration or the gifts.  As I got older and had children of my own, Christmas and gift giving took personalities of their own.  When my two children were growing up, they loved Christmas and in our home it was a big production.  Not much have changed with them over the years.

Because of my upbringing I don’t get infected with the Christmas bug.  What I like about Christmas is the music and the message it’s supposed to embrace.  Yet commercialized Christmas seems to be about giving things and people expecting.  Every year the television commercials seem to start earlier.  People will camp for days before a store so they can save fifty or two hundred dollars.  When you account for the time they spent waiting, they would have done better buying on-line.  Christmas is the biggest commercial season of the year.  Then it a ll ends in one day.  The day after Christmas you can get better deals than black Friday.

Christmas is supposed to be about the greatest gift humanity has ever received in the person of Jesus Christ.  Yet as I do my shopping on Christmas eve (since that’s my tradition) I will be so stressed out I won’t be thinking about Jesus the gift, but more about what gift to get for people who already have too much.

I must admit that I am annoyed by the contemporary way we celebrate Christmas.  I wish I could fall asleep the day after thanksgiving and wake up December 27.

Yet somewhere in the midst of all the hoopla, there is a gift we are missing.  That gift is really you.  That’s right, you!! The birth of the savior was for you.  All of heaven celebrated that birth because you were gifted back to God.  God was God before the birth.  The universe existed before the birth.  You were doomed before the birth.  You, the precious gift of the universe was placed center stage because of the birth.  You, the gift, wrapped in the grace of God and presented priceless to a surprise d universe and a smiling God.

It doesn’t matter what kind of year you had, you’re still the gift.  It doesn’t matter whether you recognize it or not, you are still the gift.  Your wrapping doesn’t determine how precious you are. The one who is totally blown away by you is God who loves his gift as if it was the only one he ever received.  You are Jesus’ gift to God, to the universe.  You are the gift Jesus paid dearly for on a black Friday.  One day soon there will be the great unwrapping of you, the gift.  Your eyes will be opened and even you will be surprised how precious a gift you are.

In the midst of this crazy season, take a moment to appreciate what it took to make you such a priceless gift to the God of the universe.

Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words! 2 Cor 9:15

 

Wilny Audain
Self-Esteem Strategist
"Where there is a Wilny, there's a way." www.wilnyaudain.com
443 226-3165
305 621-3882 (fax)

Determination by Wilny Audain

Determination

The rain fell most of the night and the morning is damp and humid. The sky is overcast and the sun is struggling to come out to play but the clouds won’t let it. The foliage surrounding me is Caribbean green and the wild flowers have a richness of color that can only be described as poetic. I’m on the island of Guadeloupe doing what I do. Every day here seems to be a long day and today promises to be one filled with intensity.

As I sit here having my breakfast by the pool, I’m mesmerized by the gentle undulation and the blueness of the water. Suddenly my peripheral vision catches the sight of a worm struggling for survival as he’s being chased by a hungry, young and inexperienced bird. The latter is many times the size of that little worm that’s moving and twirling in an attempt to avoid the bird’s vicious beak. I think the worm is toast when the scene changes. Another bird shows up and wants the same worm so a fight ensues between the two birds giving the worm the chance to escape in the nearest hole. Another day of survival for the little worm. Two angry birds are left behind with no breakfast.

I’m still enjoying my healthy breakfast as I watch these two birds fly away to find another less determined prey. That’s when I begin to think how similar life is to the scene I just observed. We are in a daily battle for survival. We get up every morning to face another day with our plans hoping they all will be successful. We are totally oblivious to the vicious birds of life that will see us as feeble prey to their unpredictable traps.

It takes real determination to live every day and come home in the evening unscathed. It takes a will of steel just to survive the onslaught of challenges, difficult situations and people we have to encounter every day. Determination is needed to live an authentic life that is real in every sense of the word. Determination or lack of it can make or break a life. Determination is one of the main ingredients in the struggle on this side of eternity.

If you are determined you will get what you want or something just as good, perhaps something better. When you are determined, complaining becomes the bird that will see you as its potential lunch. You have to remain focused and not give up because determination is about putting one foot in front of the other until you reach your goal.

It just started to rain again. Just a drizzle at first; slowly increasing in rapidity. The shape of the blue water has changed. The sun has lost its battle for now but is still shining behind the clouds, waiting for the next opportunity to come out and play. The little worm is safe back in the whole having won the fight of another day. For the moment nature waits, just like life. We all must wait; sometimes the wait is long and then gets longer. Yet we don’t give up. We hang on to our determination for another day; to be the best we can be, since that’s who we are and who we were me ant to be.

They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination. Neh 6:9

Wilny Audain
Self-Esteem Strategist
"Where there is a Wilny, there's a way."
www.wilnyaudain.com
443 226-3165
305 621-3882 (fax)