The God We show is the first hint people have of the god we know

​I hate wrapping gifts. Nothing speaks more powerfully to that truth than seeing my gifts next to other gifts under a Christmas tree or on top of a table at a birthday party. Talk about weeds in a beautiful bed of flowers.

I remember growing up. My Aunt Molly was always a great gift wrapper. Looking back, I'm sure wrapping gifts was a skill of hers. But I think she acquired that skill because she had such a big heart for giving.

I think making the outside of the gift beautiful was her way of helping us feel how excited she was about giving us what was on the inside.

Bob Goff said this morning that God is the gift and we are the wrapping. That instantly made sense to me because contrary to how we see God some days - God is not a far away thing from a far away place - God is a living and loving spirit making a home inside each of us.

I know not everyone believes that. I know not everyone sees it that way.

I wonder this morning, though, if some people don't see it that way because of the way I wrap up my personal gift of God. Is it possible that I put as little thought into wrapping the gift of Him as I do wrapping the Christmas gifts I wrap with random newspaper and duct tape.

Maybe a poorly wrapped God looks like anger. Maybe it looks like resentment or unforgiveness. Maybe God quickly shoved down to the bottom of a repurposed gift bag and covered with random tissue paper looks like selfishness and a complete and total blind spot for others.

Is it possible that the way I wrap God up on the outside doesn't make people excited, or even the least bit curious, about the God I have living inside me? Because it's true, the first hint anyone has of what is inside a gift is how that gift is wrapped.

As Christmas approaches, maybe this year I'll be a little more mindful of how I wrap my gifts. At least trade in my duct tape for something a little more invisible.

More importantly, though, as I go through the world today, I'll be more mindful that the first hint anyone has of the gift living inside me is the way I have that gift wrapped.