My girls love giving me gifts. Laura will color a picture, carefully fold it into the smallest square she can, wrap it in Disney Princess tape and proudly present it to me. Abbie will scribble on anything she can get her hands on and, smiling broadly, offer me her gift. Oh, their gifts aren’t much. Nothing really useful. Just scribbles on scrap paper. But I can’t bring myself to throw them away. You know why? Because however insignificant or seemingly useless those curious little gifts are, I know Laura and Abbie have selflessly given me a gift that represents the very best they could do. They spent their time and used their undeveloped talent to create for me a masterpiece of love. Sure, they’re no Monet or DaVinci, but they’re my girls and I’d rather have an original Abigail than an original Monet any day.
This reminds me of the little drummer boy. You know the Christmas song. This poor little boy was going to see the newborn King, but he didn’t have any gift to bring. All he had was his little beat-up drum. But he could play that drum. He gave Jesus the one talent he had and as he states in his own words, “I played my drum for him, I played my best for him.” And do you know what the next line is?—“Then he [Jesus] smiled at me, me and my drum!”
You see, not everyone is blessed with talent overflowing. Not everyone is going to attain Master Craftsman status. But we can all do something, even if it seems useless or insignificant. Jesus gladly accepts more than just gold, frankincense, and myrrh—he also accepts simple songs played on little beat-up drums. All Jesus asks is that we just do our best with the talents and abilities he’s given us and selflessly offer them to him. And just like my girls’ little scribbles bring joy to my heart, our curious little gifts, our masterpieces of love, will put a smile on the face of our Savior.
Read more articles by Michael Dellosso or search for articles on the same topic or others.
