The Graduation Gift
Theme: Unrecognized Blessings and the Danger of Pride
A young man was about to graduate from university. For months, he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom. Knowing his wealthy father could easily afford it, he told him that was the only gift he wanted.
On the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his study. He told his son how proud he was of him and handed him a beautifully wrapped gift box.
Disappointed, the young man opened the box to find a lovely, leather-bound Bible with his name embossed in gold. Furious, he raised his voice. "With all your money, you give me a Bible?!" He threw the holy book on his father's desk and stormed out of the house, refusing to speak to him again.
Many years passed. The young man became highly successful, but he never reconciled with his father. One day, he received a telegram that his father had passed away.
Returning to his childhood home with a heavy heart, he began sorting through his father's things. He found the leather-bound Bible still sitting exactly where he had thrown it decades ago. With tears in his eyes, he opened it.
As he flipped through the pages, a folded piece of paper fell out from the back cover. It was a check, dated the day of his graduation, written for the exact amount of the sports car he had wanted.
Reflection
How often do we reject God's blessings because they don't arrive in the packaging we expected? We ask for miracles, and God hands us His Word, or a difficult trial, or a quiet moment of grace. In our pride, we often throw it aside. If we take the time to open our hearts to God's ways, we will find that He has already given us exactly what we need.