Blessings From Above

James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

My husband loves to shoot guns – hunting, target-shooting, and all that. I think he’s pretty good, and it’s something he really enjoys (I guess that’s something that comes in the genes, when you grow up in Wyoming). Well, about a year ago he had his eye on a certain pistol, I think it was a Colt Mustang, but not being much of a gun person myself, that’s just a guess. He did research on it – books, magazines, internet – and felt that $400 was a reasonable price to pay for one of these treasures. After much prayer and discussion, we decided that he could make this purchase.

So, he and his buddy took $400 and headed to the gun show here in Phoenix in search for this prized pistol. He finally found one, after much searching, but alas, the price tag said $450. Being a little above our discussed budget, even though it was very tempting, he felt the twinge in his stomach, and put the pistol down moving on to check out the remaining tables. He very quickly found another Colt Mustang on another table, but this time the price was $500. So, feeling as though this was it, the only chance to get his gun, he went back to the previous one, only to discover that in the 5 minutes he had been gone, it had been sold to someone else. That was it, his last chance to get this pistol . . . or so he thought.

On his way out of the gun show, something caught his eye, or rather, the Spirit drew his attention to it – a mint condition pistol, similar to the Colt Mustang – a Colt Pocket 9. The price tag read $450. After debating the purchase, he went to lay the pistol back down on the table, when the guy behind the table said, "I’ll give it to you for $400."


All green-lights to work, stepping on the scale to see that you’ve lost 5 pounds and you weren’t even trying, getting an unexpected raise, or promotion, finding a buck in the road, these are all what I like to call little love-notes from God. What the world would call luck, I would call a good and perfect gift from above, a special touch from a God that loves us so immensely. Just as we love to give unmerited, no-special-occasion gifts to those we love, so God loves to shower us with little blessings from above.

Watch for them, and soak them in, knowing that they are another way that we can see and experience His wonderful, refreshing love each and every day. Keeping a journal of these love notes is a wonderful way to end a day – reflecting on and basking in His glorious love for each of us. And the more we watch for them, the more we’ll realize that each and every day is filled with such intimate encounters with our Love.


By the way, it turns out that this new pistol of Chris’ is a rarer pistol than the Colt Mustang, and really a nicer pistol over-all, a much better purchase – it’s even worth more than the Colt Mustang. Isn’t God awesome!