Do y’all hear me!?! I don’t think y’all heard me! I said …LIFE is a GIFT!!! This GIFT that I’m talking about is priceless. This GIFT that I’m talking about is too big for Santa Claus to carry down a chimney. You can’t put a price on it, put it on layaway, buy it, GIFT wrap it, put a pretty bow on it, and give it to someone.
This GIFT is called LIFE, and it was given to you, to me, to all of us! Not because we asked for it, not because we wished for it, not because we prayed for it, not because we earned it, but we got it, anyway. What does this mean??? This means that I have been GIFTED, you have been GIFTED, we have been GIFTED, everyone who has this GIFT have been GIFTED!!!
We were born GIFTED from day one. I repeat …we were born GIFTED from day one! Therefore, Christmas is everyday, and not just once a year on December 25th. Everyday that we wake up, we have another day to unwrap our GIFT, and spend priceless time with it …LIFE! But what we do with the time we put into our LIFE will determine the outcome of our GIFT. Think about that???
I want to take y’all back …think about Christmas??? There was a time when everyone got that one GIFT that made them the happiest child on earth! Everyone!!! Even the poorest people had at least one Christmas that made them the happiest! Remember that? Giving Santa Claus milk and cookies was secondary to the anticipated GIFTS. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, and Frost The Snowman were joyous moments that led up to that GIFT giving day.
Remember you tried your hardest to go to sleep early, squeezing your eyes closed, tightly, just to speed those hours up so the GIFT giving time would come faster??? If you were like me, you stayed up all night …no, no, not to see Santa Claus, but to sneak a peak at the biggest boxes under the Christmas tree. I would peel the scotch tape just enough to see what the GIFT was inside. I could not wait!!! I had to at least know what I was getting! I was that concerned about my GIFT!
Then, morning arrived …you got your GIFT …and with great enthusiasm you shredded the Christmas wrapping paper to pieces! The joy that filled your heart was unexplainable. You smiled, you laughed, you cried tears of joy, you jumped sky high, you thanked God, you thanked your mother, you thanked your father, you proudly showed it to your siblings, you hugged your mother, you hugged your father, and you looked at your GIFT, in awe …
You took good care of your GIFT! You cherished your GIFT! Your brother, your sister, a cousin, or anybody who tried to play with your GIFT you said, “No, mine!!!” If your GIFT was misplaced you cried your heart out! Your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, everyone in the house had to look for your GIFT until it was found! No one would get any sleep until that GIFT was returned to its rightful owner, YOU!Remember that?!?
You did everything with your GIFT!!! You played with your GIFT, you cried with your GIFT, you watched TV with your GIFT, you slept with your GIFT, you woke up with your GIFT, you ate with your GIFT, you took your GIFT to school for show and tell, and you kept your GIFT closely, all day, and all night. Ain’t that something!?!
But what about the most important GIFT that you will ever receive, your LIFE!?! That GIFT that is not a toy to be played with. That GIFT you cannot buy another if you break it, or lose it, or someone steals it, or even worse …you just flat out give it away!?! That GIFT that does not come with a warranty, but a warning! Those cautionary signs that you must protect your GIFT, yourLIFE, at all cost!!!
Let me ask you the most important question that you will ever be asked. Did you cherish your GIFT of LIFE like you cherished your GIFT for Christmas?!? That toy! Be honest with yourself, be honest about your GIFT, be honest so that if your answer is no …you will do so moving forward!!! If your answer is no, you now have proof that you cherished a toy more than your LIFE. Oh, I get it!!! When you got that GIFTED toy you were just a kid! I get it, got it, good! But now that you’re older, smarter, and wiser your GIFT of LIFE has been taken for granted. Why is that?
I had to be honest with myself, so now I must be honest with you. I did not cherish my GIFT of LIFE like I cherished my GIFT for Christmas. That toy! It pains me to say that, but I must be honest with me, with you, and with the world. Some of us, just like me, we got our GIFT of LIFE, and we didn’t even open it! SMH! We looked at the box, we shook it, we dropped it, we kicked it off to the side, and we banged it up against the wall. Talking about, “I’ll look at it later!”
We never looked inside to see what we got!!! We took that big box that says ‘Handle With Care’, and we handled it, carelessly. I said, we took that big box, our GIFT, our LIFE, and we handled it, carelessly. We never examined the contents of what’s inside!!! Not only is this GIFT the best GIFT, it is the biggest GIFT, it is the most important GIFT, it is the most powerful GIFT, it is the most meaningful GIFT, and it is the GIFT that you will only get one time!!! LIFE!!!
I had this amazing GIFT for my entire LIFE, and I did not know, in totality, what I was GIFTED with until I was 40!!! SMH! Better late than never, right??? But imagine if I would’ve examined my GIFT at 4, or 14, instead of 40?!? Imagine if all of us examined our GIFT this way, at 4, or 14, instead of 40?!? Like, WOW!!! I got toes!!! I got feet!!! I can stand!!! This is amazing!!! I got legs!!! I can walk, run, kick, jump, and swim!!!
I got hands!!! I got fingers to touch, feel, hold on, or let go!!! I got arms to reach, swing, or hug!!! I got a mouth to taste, eat, drink, speak, and kiss!!! I got a nose to smell, most importantly, to breathe!!!!!!!!!!!! I got ears to hear all sorts of beautiful sounds, especially music, even better to pay attention, by listening!!! I got eyes to see the beauty of the world!!! My eyes are like photography, or film.
I got a brain, and my mind is the most powerful tool in the world!!!
I mean, this thing records!!! WOW!!! This-thing-records!!! I can rewind, press play, fast forward, pause, edit, and zoom in!!! What on earth is more amazing than that?!? I can process what I feel in my heart, and every fiber of my being by using my mind!!!
The mind is like a giant attic where I collect, and save everything I have learned. It is all there, uploaded, everything these eyes have seen, everything that these ears have heard is all there!!! I may have to shuffle some things around to download it, but it is all there. Your LIFE is a GIFT, and we should never wait until our goods are damaged to cherish it. Never!!!
Some of us became the Grinch who stole Christmas GIFTS from ourselves! Some of us live the LIFE of Scrooge against our own dreams and aspirations. Bah humbug!!! I hate getting up in the morning!!! Bah humbug!!! I hate school!!! Bah humbug!!! I hate having homework!!! Bah humbug!!! I hate doing my chores!!!
Bah humbug!!! I hate work!!! And, the most devastating of them all, Bah humbug!!! I hate my LIFE!!! So …you hate your LIFE, huh??? You hate your GIFT, huh??? We hate, hate, hate, hate, hate so much that we forget what it feels like to love, or be loved, or be in love, or excited for love! Most importantly, how to love the most important person in your LIFE, your GIFT, YOU!!!
I have had my GIFT for five decades, but I have only been alive for one. There is a difference! Having a LIFE is just that, but being alive is being aware, alert, conscious, and in the moment! The power of now! Think about your heart?!? Personally, my heart has been beating in my chest for 50 years, and not once did I ask it to. It just does!!! Not once did my heart ask me for a single favor!!! Not once did my heart give up on me!!! And, not once did my heart say, “You owe me!!!”
But the truth is …I do owe my heart! Listen to it!?! Our hearts are saying, “Don’t have me beating in your chest for all these years …for you to do nothing with your LIFE!!!” Our hearts are saying, “Please, don’t waste my time, putting in all this effort for you to give up on your GIFT!!!” Treat your GIFT of LIFE like that GIFT you got for Christmas, and I guarantee that you will experience that same holiday spirit every single day of your GIFTED LIFE …Amen!
Moral Message: When an awful crime is committed, and someone’s GIFT has been taken. An investigation ensues involving misleading clues, and a wrongful arrest is in the making. The initial GIFT taken, and the innocent GIFT that does the time, two GIFTS are wasted. The guilty fly as free as a bird to shit-serve the rudest awakening …MB6!!!
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