What Can I Give the Lord?

   “I ask nothing more of you than this: your efforts to surrender yourself wholly to Me.” (Thomas á Kempis, “The Imitation of Christ”)

   I have nothing that the Lord needs.  In fact, all I have are the gifts of His love and caring.  I can do nothing worthy of Him and I have no gift to give Him.  And yet, He desires me to be His; to be a part of His family and spend eternity in His presence.

   The only thing I can offer Him is myself, and even that does not truly belong to me.  Still, I could decide to live for self rather than for Him.  I could convince myself that what I have is deserved when in fact everything is a gift from God.  I could ignore His desire that I make of myself a gift to Him.

   I can give Him my sins, my pride, my envy, and selfishness.  I can give Him my desire for earthly pleasures, pleasures of the flesh.  I can give Him my anger, my biases, and my prejudices.  I can give Him my love.

   Though I have nothing of real value to give Him, I am reminded of the story of the feeding of the four thousand.  With just seven loaves and a few fish Jesus fed everyone, and they had their fill.  There were even seven baskets of food left over (see Mark 8: 1 – 9).

   I have nothing great to give Him, just myself.  But Jesus can work miracles with even a small gift given in faith, love, and sincerity.

Lord, I have nothing of value.

Only Your love matters.

Take me, make me holy I pray.

Make me a gift to You.

Amen