Unwrapping the Gift for this New Year
A Gift Called Life
We often forget that life is a gift—a gift wrapped in skin, hours, and purpose. It is a gift that has an expiration date on earth, even if we may live an eternity in heaven. No matter how long this gift lasts, we remind ourselves that God does not owe us extra days for good deeds; neither does He owe us extra hours because of a destiny we need to fulfill. He does not owe us. Period. God simply delights to give us the gift of His breath every day—and with it, the chance to live FULLY by knowing Him.
In this new year, are we wanting to live fully? The answer to this question can be found in how awake we are to God’s generous love for us. You see, life can be full of activity and challenges—tasks and meetings left and right, people to meet—plus the pizza to order and the ice cream to buy. But a fully-loaded life does not mean a fully-lived life. We can do everything “necessary” for life but find ourselves in a mundane rut. We can climb the ladder of success and yet be depressed. We can be in a room full of people and still feel alone. Somehow, we know deep down that life must have a quality of deep contentment and great, inexplicable joy to be full and real.
And so we reach for God—a God who understands why a tear comes so suddenly in the middle of a happy event, or why we move from being so able and capable one second to being so needy and weak the next. We ask God where He is. We know He’s real, but where is He when it is quiet and when the answers to our prayers don’t come?
When that happens, the best thing I’ve found we can do is to breathe.
Breathe
Breathe in, and remember you are breathing Life that sustains you (one of the names of Jesus is LIFE, see John 14:6). Look around and see life bubbling all around, etched in the veins of a leaf and painted in the colors of a sunrise. Tune in to the sounds of life—where the hissing of a kettle reminds you that you’re about to enjoy a cup of coffee or a nice warm bath. Pay attention to a bird’s melodious chirp and embrace it as God’s personal song for you. Fling the windows open, watch the clouds shift, and when the moon comes out, recognize silver majesty. Breathe all these in, and remember that these are gifts. They point to God. God is in the details of your day.
Many times, our attitude sours when we fail to behold God’s love for us in the simplest of things. Let us remember: God’s love is a love that hedges each of our days with His PRESENCE. He is in the details. He is with us.
Awaken to Presence
When Jesus ascended into Heaven, He left His disciples with this important reassurance: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We often emphasize the Great Commission when we read Matthew 28, forgetting that doing the work of the Lord takes courage.
Courage is found in God’s PRESENCE. Joshua 1:9 says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Whether we do the Lord’s work in the mountains among the tribes, or in front of a computer creating essays and memes, or if it means staying at home to do the dishes and take out the trash…we work with courage, having God’s presence as a reality in our lives.
This 2025, I pray that we awaken more to the generous love of God; that we delight in the presence of God even in the tiniest of things. May we see Him every day and not miss out on the unwrapping of the greatest gift found in the gift of life: HIMSELF. Yes, He is our greatest gift, our Greatest Reward in life, and the fullness of LIFE.
Have a happy new year of God’s PRESENCE in our midst!
One with you in this journey called life,
Janina Marie Rivera
Janina Marie Rivera is the author of the book, A Night Bird Sings of Blindness and Fear and has co-authored the devotional, Dawns, published by OMF Literature. She is a contributing poet in the books Joyful Light and Whitmanthology: on Loss and Grief by Various Authors. She is the Editor-in-Chief of One Voice Magazine.
