Guests, gifts, food, conversations, love. Yes, those were the components I remember of our wedding reception, which took place almost 38 years ago. A few years later it was decided that instead of storing unused gifts in our spare bedroom closet that we would organize them, along with other unused items, for a garage sale. As I pulled out the stored wedding gifts, I recalled several of the givers and even some of the conversations from our wedding day.
One unused gift stood out among the others. The partially opened box contained a solid white Corning quiche baking dish. I would tell you why I remembered that particular gift and who gave it to us, but you would think ill of me. The point is that for at least five years, I knew that dish was in my possession, but I did not open it. I didn’t think that I had a use for it. It was unwrapped. I knew what it was, but I did not open it to use it. I didn’t need it.
As I set it aside, something caught my attention. There was something loose in the box. Great (thought sarcastically), a broken dish would now need to be tossed in the trash. I finished carefully opening the box, only to discover an envelope. I knew who had given the box, but I decided to pull out the card and read it. What I found was more than a signature from…well, from the giver. There was money, a one hundred dollar bill! Wow! This wedding gift of a white quiche dish was much greater than I had expected. This gift was not beneficial to us until I fully opened it and began to use it.
This gift was not beneficial to us until I fully opened it and began to use it.
“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to GOD, your God. Don’t do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days GOD made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore GOD blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day.” Exodus 20:8-11 MSG
The Sabbath.
A gift.
A holy gift.
Given by God.
We know the gift.
We know the Giver.
Will we place it on a shelf?
OR will we open and use it?
The choice is yours.
The choice is mine.
I choose Sabbath keeping.
What about you?
JH
Written by Colonel Janice Howard, Territorial Communications Secretary
