Don't Miss Your Blessing Because You Don't Like The Packaging

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom, and knowing that his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car for him. Finally on the day he was to graduate his father called him into his private study, told him how proud he was to have such a fine son and how much he loved him. He then handed him a beautifully wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely leather bound Bible with his name embossed on it in gold. He was angry so he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all of your money you give me a Bible rather than the sports car I wanted.” He then stormed out of the house leaving the Bible behind.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in the business he went into. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family but realized when he thought about his father that he was very old. He then decided that perhaps he should go to see him because he had not seen him since that graduation day.

However, before he could make arrangements to go he received a phone call from a funeral home director telling him that his father had passed away and had willed all of his possessions to him. He was told that he needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When the son arrived at his father’s house sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important documents and saw the Bible his father had given him for graduation. The Bible looked new just as it was years ago when he was given it.

With tears in his eyes, he opened it. Inside, his father had underlined Matthew 7:11:
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?”

As he read, a car key fell from the back of the Bible. Attached to it was a tag from the dealership—the very place that held the car he had longed for. Written on the tag were the words: "Paid in Full."

How often do we miss life’s greatest blessings because they don’t come in the package we expect? How many times do we walk away from something priceless, blinded by our own assumptions?

God’s gifts don’t always arrive as a burning bush or a grand display. Sometimes, they come wrapped in quiet moments, in lessons of patience, or even in something as simple as a Bible left on a shelf.

May we open our hearts to see His blessings, even when they don’t look the way we imagined.