Look Behind the Tree

This is an article I wrote for the December issue of our church newsletter. I had to submit a picture as well. A nice staged one! :)  And if you are curious, the "sister" was Jaycie.


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One Christmas when I was a girl, all I wanted was a 10-speed bicycle. When I asked for it, I knew it would probably be one of the only things I would get that year.

Christmas morning, when the lights came on, there stood a vibrant red bicycle. I ecstatically ran to it to discover a tag with someone else's name written on it. I felt deflated. My sister hadn't even asked for a bike. Had there been some mistake? Seconds later, I realized maybe I hadn't looked around enough for MY bike. There it was! A blue bike tucked behind the tree!

This is a story that is retold in my family, and surely somewhere a videotape of my reaction exists. I am sure someone thought he was very clever to hide the bike.

We ask our Heavenly Father for many things. Sometimes we see others receive the blessings we desire, and to some those blessings seem to come so easily. We may feel jealous or confused. We may try hard not to allow ourselves to feel cheated. We may be upset that the desires of our hearts take so long to come to pass. Or we may worry that what we ask for will never be given.

Make no mistake. A loving Heavenly Father will bless us-- is blessing us. It may be in ways not noticed or expected. It may be more slowly than we had hoped, but He loves us and knows us. Sometimes He will deny us what we want, but will bless us with the gifts that truly are the best for us. Sometimes our lives are paths to places we did not expect, but places that will help us become exactly what He has in store for us.

This holiday, when it is easy to covet talents, blessings, and gifts of others, let us look away from theirs and "look behind the tree" to see what gifts are ours.