HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE YOUR UNUSED GIFT WAS PUT IN THE TRASH? It may be time to give again!

You see a need and put every ounce of good intentions into your gift. You give that person a well thought out item. You hope it is perfectly shaped to meet their expressed needs. You might have given it to them at a sacrifice to yourself.

And yet they refuse to receive.

Maybe they might even be offended by it.

When our oldest daughter was a baby we lived in a cute little cul- de -sac of townhomes. I became friends with several young moms in the neighborhood. 

I love to share with others. So with the best intentions I lent my daughter’s baby clothes to a struggling neighbor for her infant daughter.

These were outfits I had hand picked and kept in brand new condition.

Some months later, I was shocked to find the baby girl clothes in a trash bag at the end of our driveway.  It hurt that my gift was treated with such disdain.

When I asked my neighbor why she left them out by the trash she explained that they weren’t the outfits our daughter’s grandmothers had gifted to our daughter. 

Sometimes we can give and the receiver of the gift rejects it.

When the gift is your time, encouragement or talents the rejection goes deeper still.

We have a choice on how we respond. We can grow angry and bitter. Bent over under the weight of the disappointment.

Or we can let it go and ask God to help us forgive.

How can we ‘let go’ and forgive when the actions of others seem so egregious?

Are you struggling with a painful betrayal from a friend who you thought cared for you? 

A good place to begin is to look at our own faults and remember no one is perfect.

We can let go by refusing to talk about the other person in a negative way.

We can continue to treat her or him in a way that is polite and courteous.

We can refuse to dwell on the hurt and pain.

But, more importantly, we can take our hurt and pain and talk to the Father about it.

He will complete the work he has started in us and bring that situation around for our good.

For us, those precious clothes were passed on to our second baby girl who we were blessed with soon after.

When we’re ready to continue to share blessings and gifts we can feel free to spread the love again. 

“Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure— pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
Luke 6:38 NASB