The encounter with the baby in Target occurred the same week I was reading Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are.
That made all the difference.
God was beginning a work in my life through Ann’s book. He was opening my heart to seeing his blessings. To really seeing and appreciating them. As the baby’s mom wheeled the shopping cart carrying this precious one away, I thanked God for the blessing. I was feeling so lonely on this trip. I’d been traveling every week for about five months and I knew more travel lay ahead. I was weary and missing family, friends, and home. The connection with the bright eyed baby brightened my day.
As I was flying home a few days later, God brought that encounter to my mind again. I’d finished reading Ann’s book by then and God was still at work using her powerful words. Suddenly, I had a flash of understanding.
Acknowledging God’s blessings is very different than receiving them as gifts.
His blessings are gifts straight from his heart to mine and to yours.
Receiving is acknowledging, but so much more.
Acknowledging happens in our heads. Receiving is a matter of our hearts.
Simply acknowledging a blessing keeps it external. Receiving makes it a part of us.
It’s personal when we receive gifts.
There’s a bond created between the giver and the receiver.
When we receive, we accept not only the gift, but the heart of the giver.
Only when we receive do we truly express gratitude for the gift
and
Only when we receive can we pass blessing on to another.
I am terrible at receiving. I’d rather give all day long than stand still while someone helps me with something or gives me a gift. I feel helpless when I receive. I don’t like feeling helpless. I like to feel in control even though I know that control is mostly an illusion. I push people away when they try to help saying that I’m really okay doing it myself. Even when I’m not. Even when I’m exhausted and my heart cries out for help, I’ll turn it down. I’ll acknowledge the gesture, but I will not receive the gift. It is pride. Pure and simple.
Is this how I have been treating my loving Father when he brings countless blessings my way? Maybe not quite to this extent and certainly not as consciously, but I think there’s still something of this tendency in my relationship with him. I am more willing to accept his help than that of those traveling this earthly journey with me. But still, I know there is something to this. I have not received his blessings as gifts and I can see the impact it has had on my relationship with him now. I will teach all day long that God is good and loving, but I confess that my experience of him, especially lately, is more often focusing on his holiness and righteousness. Is it any wonder that I don’t experience his goodness in my life when I, at best, simply acknowledge it and do not receive it?
God used Ann’s words and the encounter with the baby in Target to bring this revelation to my heart on the plane and he still had a bit to do in my heart though those words and that encounter.One more reminder and an exclamation point.
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How do you experience the difference between acknowledging and receiving?
Is it easy for you to receive help and gifts? Why or why not?
