Would you ignore a gift?

Who leaves gifts unopened? Who in their right mind would ignore a present? My devotional reading this morning was pondering these types of question.  And I agreed...who would reject or ignore a gift? Not me! Then, a recent memory popped into my mind...

You see...I love summer sunsets.  There is something about the intensity of the pinks and oranges mixed in with the blue of the sky that no master artist could ever truly replicate.  I have the blessing of being able to see those magnificent sunsets from the front of my house. So, every time that there is one, Dan usually calls me up and we just stand in awe, quietly contemplating the beauty of God´s handiwork.  Once in a while, we get the gift of a beautiful sunset at other times that are not summer too...even in the winter we might get the gift of color in the midst of grey.  When that happens, it feels like a special blessing that brings hope when hope is lacking.  A couple of days ago...we had one of such gifts of hope.  And I ignored it...

I was so frazzled and frustrated with something or other about work that, I saw the pinks peeking through the closed blinds of my home office, and instead of pausing and taking the time to get up, open the blinds wide and contemplate...I grunted and looked away...

I knew that was a mistake.  But I did it anyway.  And today, I realized, that was a total rejection to God's gift.

Yep...

I believe, God was inviting me to take a break...if only for a few minutes...and I chose to pout and continue on my frustration so I could complain later that I don't even have time to look out the window.

I missed it.  I missed the blessing that evening.  And I feel terrible thinking about it now.  But, there's nothing I can do other than to learn from that experience and pray it doesn't happen again.  I pray I can remember how every good gift is from above, (James 1: 17) sent down to me from my Heavenly Father so I can have a glimpse of paradise while still wandering through the valley of shadows.  So, I pray that I would listen to the Holy Spirit next time He is trying to offer me a blessing. I also hope Dan is around, so he won't let me miss it again.