How is it that we are sure we like something ???
It is our senses ..that respond to the “flavor” of it …
Could be taste …
Could be vision …touch ..
Or any of the rest of the senses..
Once we decide that we truly like whatever it is .. it gets engrained in our brain that ….”hmmmm this is good and will most always be accepted.”
This could also pertain to someone ….
This, me thinks is how we fall in love, to one depth or another with our Friends .. our Soul mate (or spouse) on earth …as well as with the true Soul Mate for Eternity (our Creator) ….
WHAT IF:
We and one of our friends, both happen to “like” (to the point of what could be called a superficial “Love”) the same thing …
For example .. Butter Pecan Ice Cream…or Movies by a certain director or actor involved… or Traveling to a certain place which would require airplane fare … and
WHAT IF:
You were the one that by some happenstance came upon Free tickets for 2 to that place or opening night premier of a movie… Or a bargain on a Gallon of the good brand of Butter Pecan …(the stuff that doesn’t need any topping to be melt in your mouth good, in fact it is so good it would be insulted by putting topping on it)
Wouldn’t it be a marvelous “test” of friendship … to anonymously bestow the complete gift on your friend. Making them think it came from some totally outside source, to see if they come running to you with the excitement and desire to share something that they should also know you enjoy as much as they, and that they would think of no other before you in such matters?..
Now this might seem dirty in that true friends should not be tested by true friends, but bare with me …
Imagine the double joy .. you will feel when the hoax is exposed .(or even if you never expose it and allow it to be their gift to you) .
You both are laughing and chomping on spoonfuls of the Delicious Ice Cream .. or the Hours and Hours of glance smiles and suppressed out and out laughter before, during and after the movie or on the trip to and from the favorite vacation spot…
Also Imagine the hurt .. which may take a time to heal.. IF you find out that your Gift was shared with some other “friend” or that you were even excluded from list of consideration…
These pains we all feel in this life … and in true Christian Love (or even attempting to copy the example of Jesus) we must pray for that persons blindness and inconsiderate nature… while never stopping the Love we have for them .. and learn to keep things in perspective that such “tests” (when failing to accomplish their “tricky” goal) are not burdensome to our soul but that such gifts could be given without expecting to be the “chosen friend”.
THIS SCENARIO GETS A LITTLE LOPSIDED in that for us to “test” a friendship as mentioned above is unfair, if done as anything other then a practical joke. And if the response to that practical joke would have NO negative effects on, us the giver, if “we” are not accepted as the “chosen second beneficiary party to the gift”., BUT :
For God to do this type of Giving (or testing) is Just.. In that He created all things …. Owns all people and things ….and as we have come to know His Nature, it is LOVE.
Therefore the “testing” is by no means flawed or tainted as our earthly personal testing of “friendships” would usually be. and HE would have every right to feel hurt.
Especially if we look at history… from Creation (or the beginning by The Father ) to Gods Earthly Life and Crucifixion.., to Pentecost (the coming of the Third Person)… onward up to today, as well as into the future and hold to the promise of Eternal Bliss.
And then lets change the focus of our minds eye to the friendship we have with God .. and a couple of “what ifs”
WHAT IF:
God (without having been asked ) bestowed upon you a gift and made it seem as though it came from an outside source? or
God (after having been asked) bestowed upon you a gift and made it seem as though it came from an outside source? or
WHAT IF:
The last time He bestowed upon you a gift and made it seem as though it came from an outside source, His Loving Heart WAS hoping for you to call upon Him to join in the jubilant moments of the reception and usage of the gift?
WHAT IF:
God wanted you to (out of Love) share with others any or all of the gifts ever given to you?
None the Less … Look around You … Look within … What Gifts has God bestowed?
Is He asking us to share them with HIM, save them for HIM, “present” them back to HIM?
NO NO NO
He is asking us to share them with our fellowman. By this He is willing to judge “us” as the giver (this is why these gifts “seem” to come from some outside source and “seem” as though we own them) and we are mimicking or becoming like Him when giving them away. (depending on the amount of Love “Charity” we have within)
He only asks that we always are looking to Him as the Supplier.
If we acknowledge God as The Supplier and do this simple thing, we cannot help but to grow in a Loving Dependence on God and God alone.
Continuing in the sharing and receiving of the blessings, thereby the giving of HIS gifts to others is an act of Worshiping Him.
For with God all things are possible.