One day a man punished his young daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he was furious when the child tried to decorate a box.
Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy." He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found the box was empty. He yelled at her, "Don't you know when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside it?
His daughter looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty, I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy." The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.
An accident took the life of the child only a short time later and it is told that the man kept that gold box by his bed for many years and whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.
In a very real sense, each of us have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love--love and kisses from our children, our friends, our family and from God - despite how we have behaved toward them.
What must we do in order to truly express our response to such gifts?
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