Needle Girl In A Haystack World (Which Has Nothing To Do With A Roll In The Hay)

Christmas draws nigh. As this is a time for gifts, reflecting the greatest gift of all — God’s Son — it’s a good time to reflect on the gifts so many of us share.

It’s easy to look at this bleak world and think “what gifts? Another day of soul-sucking employment or drudgery-laden anxiety over unemployment? Relationships that have failed or are a long-running failure? Heartache punctuated by heartbreak over loss and absence? These are gifts?!! If so, can I exchange them for something better even without a receipt?”

Actually, we have the receipt. It’s God’s Word. It’s His promise that this is temporary while life is eternal. Today’s pain will end today. Tomorrow’s joy will one day be our today, a today without end.

So yes, we have gifts. All of us. And, like good news (which if you think about it gifts are), gifts are best when shared.

It’s a gift when friends come to be as both parties take that chance in reaching out to someone formerly unknown and find their trust returned in like kind.

It’s a gift when the days sliding into weeks tucked into months sandwiched into years spent doing something because you knew it was what you were supposed to be doing regardless of how futile or pointless it seemed at most every turn are rewarded with something beautiful happening in someone’s life. In no small part because you stayed faithful despite it all.

It’s a gift when you realize how in spite of your fumbling stumbling bumbling self-defeating self-destructive silliness Christ still uses you to facilitate both the miracle of life-transforming renewal in others and the miracle of daily blessing through love. Yes, love. From you. Fumbling stumbling bumbling self-defeating self-destructive silly you. Which forever answers the question of whether God exists and Jesus Is Who He says He Is. Plus whether you’re worthy of and capable of love. Yes. Yes, you are.

So yes, there are gifts this season having not a thing to do with wrapping paper and shopping malls. Savor them. Cherish them.

And don’t quit. Just don’t quit. Especially on yourself. It all might seem like looking for a needle in a haystack. It can and will be frustrating. It can and will seem pointless, hopeless. But don’t quit. There are indeed needle girls (and boys) in this haystack world.

It’s worth the effort to keep looking.

P.S. Thanks to Switchfoot for the title of this post (their new album Hello Hurricane is brilliant; easily my favorite by them). No video for “Needle And Haystack Life,” but there is one for “Mess Of Me.” A perfect tune for when we’re most painfully aware of the fumbling stumbling bumbling self-defeating self-destructive silliness in our lives.

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