We love gifts. At Christmas, at our birthdays, and often on another occasions, we receive gifts - wrapped up, in neat packages, ready to be used and enjoyed. And when it comes to our relationships with God, we may think that His gifts should look the same. In reality, however, they are different.

We've got to learn to recognize divine gifts, to accept them, and to be grateful, because it is not always an easy task. Too many gifts of God aren't even noticed. Others are being rejected or misused. Perhaps, it is the reason why we sometimes don't live the kind of life we want to.

The first thing we need to know that God is the active, ever-giving Principle. It is the nature of God to give, and this giving can never be stopped. If we presume that God may withhold something from us, or other humans, and we must beg Him for provision or for blessings, we are mistaken. We still hold on to the image of partial and unjust Deity which, of course, have nothing to do with the truth.

"Do not err, my beloved brothers.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning".
James 1:16,17

The next thing we should realize is that God's gifts are always good, and nothing but supreme good will ever proceed from the Source. God is not the author of human errors and corresponding sufferings. But unfortunately, our understanding of divine goodness could be incomplete.

God is called here "the Father of lights". In the Bible, light is always the symbol fo spiritual understanding, and darkness is the symbol of ignorance. This leads us to an important conclusion: best gifts of God are not things - they are enlightening ideas of Truth. Those ideas are carriers of Life, Light, Love, Wisdom, and Power.

People often pray and ask for things, and, of course, there is nothing wrong about things. But there is a certain order which must be recognized. First, comes an idea. Once this idea is accepted, it grows and forms a new state of consciousness, which, like a magnet, attracts visible manifestation of a desired thing. There are no shortcuts or magic methods which would allow us to skip this process.

Darkness and light are powerful symbols, but we need to see that there is no total darkness, and there is no absolute light - at least, in our human experience. Enlightenment is a gradual process. By staying open to God, we quickly move to higher level of light, but there is no place where we may stop, saying that it is enough.

God's gifts are called perfect. However, this is a potential perfection: perfection of a seed, which is not yet a fruit-bearing tree. It is perfection of a baby, which is not yet a mature man or woman. Potential perfection becomes actual perfection with time, after we invest sufficient amount of work into those gifts.

"Therefore be patient... Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and the latter rain".
James 5:7

"I wish things were different", someone may say. But things are the way they are. We either accept them, or trying to dwell in the world of illusions and fantasies.

"Ask, and it shall be given to you", called Jesus. This is a true saying, if we have in mind the nature of God's gifts. This is not a promise that we will receive the finished product. But seeds of our blessings will be provided to us in abundance.