brown paper packages tied up in string…

This year I wanted to wrap all of my presents in light brown wrapping paper because I found these cute little alphabet stamps and wanted to stamp people’s names on the paper with green ink and use red and white striped bakers twine to tie around them. {Ironically, my friend Julie had a similar idea and she wrote about it here}

I searched high and low for plain brown wrapping paper. Seriously, NO ONE has it. I almost gave up until I finally found a roll of it when my mom and I were at Ikea getting a cup of coffee {yes, we get coffee at Ikea when we’re out shopping. It’s only 50¢… that’s right, CENTS. And it’s pretty good!}. I was so happy that I finally found  the wrapping paper, but I quickly had another dilemma: no one had red and white striped bakers twine. Once I get an idea in my mind, I find it hard to compromise. I could’ve easily used any other color ribbon or string, but I had my mind made up and I just had get red and white striped bakers twine. So I made it myself. It might sound weird that I am so particular about what I wrap my presents with this year, I mean, people are just going to tear it off, right? And why go to the trouble of making bakers twine?! Well, I say, why not. Look at the end result: 

I love buying presents for people. And as you probably noticed, I obviously really love wrapping them too. There’s something so exciting about watching someone rip off the paper to find out what’s inside! And I sometimes usually am more excited than the person opening the gift, as you can see here when I gave Srey Ya her red shoes.

My mom sent me this Daily Bread Devotional and I thought it was very fitting

Imagine Christmas morning without wrapping paper. The joy would be short-lived, for much of the excitement is the anticipation of finding out what’s in the package. {and wrapping it, in my opinion!} Apparently, God created us with a “normal” setting that causes us to enjoy the process of discovery, because finding something is often a having it. That is, after all, why we wrap presents. Many passages in Scripture allude to this concept. In Proverbs 8:17 it says “those who seek me diligently will find me”. “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” Jeremiah 29:13. God could have revealed all truth to all people at the very beginning of time, but he chose to reveal himself gradually. Perhaps that’s why we value things more when we have to search and wait for them. God is not playing a cruel game of hide-and-seek, He is allowing us to enjoy the process of discovering who he is and what he’s up to in the universe. So don’t be discouraged over what you don’t know about God, Be excited about unwrapping all there is yet to discover.

God’s gift of Himself to us is a present we’ll always be unwrapping.

Just like God want us to discover Him bit by bit, I’m learning that he usually unwraps His plan for our lives little by little. I mean, never in my life has God revealed the big picture or told me His plans for my life all at once {to my dismay}. But if we were born with our “plan” written on our chest, then that would make life sort of boring and predictable. Just like coming down the stairs on Christmas morning and seeing all your gifts sitting under the tree without wrapping paper. Boringggg. Sometimes I even pick out my own gifts for myself and even though I know what they are, the wrapping paper adds so much anticipation and excitement, don’t you agree?! So, in figuring out God’s will for our lives, I think that the process is the point.

This Christmas, all of my “brown paper packages tied up in string” remind me to embrace the process of ‘unwrapping’ God and his plan for my life, and to enjoy the journey of discovery.