Gift

Several people have given me an extraordinary gift.  It is one that cannot be purchased.  You do not find it according to my observation on the lives around me.  It is rarely planned.  Rather, this gift is a spontaneous gift from the heart which unfolds over time.  From my memory, Fred, Michael, Bob, Marty, and a few more recently stand-out.  The gift is one that has no verbal strings yet it comes with a heavy burden.  These individuals, in the course of our working relationship, invited me into their confidence, shared of themselves, and offered me the chance to be something far greater than I was when our relationship first began.
 
During the past ten years I have had the privilege of giving this gift away to a few others.  It rarely happens.  You also do not plan, you just know.  Then both know and it begins to emerge into reality.  The first time the receiving party handles this gift they have no way of knowing exactly what it is; but it does seem to bring a sense of assurance, peace, and hope.  I have struggled with how to describe the process but it goes something along the lines Jesus used with the eleven who were close to him. 
 
“In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you're going to see me because I am alive and you're about to come alive.  At that moment you will know absolutely that I'm in my Father, and you're in me, and I'm in you.”  (John 14.19, 20)
 
What happens? 
 
The values and relationship skills are passed on to another for rebirth.  They will never been quite the same; but the core will shape the new life with every breath that remains.
 
A bond is established which cannot be broken.  Time doesn’t change it.  Adversity and conflict do not reach the core seed.
 
The “touch” which gave birth to the seed will always remain.  Usually the receiver can always sense it when the other in nearby.
 
God offers you and me this gift, now.