Have you ever received a gift from someone and thought, “I’ll never use this?” Perhaps it was a piece of clothing or a gadget that you had no use for. We might put these things in a closet or a drawer and forget about them … until a situation arises in which it becomes the perfect thing to use or to wear!

Gifts from God can be like that, too — such as talents we think of as “useless”, words that come to us at just the right time to comfort a friend, or material things that we don’t value for ourselves, but which are helpful to someone else.

We don’t always recognize that these are gifts from God, but we can all relate to the experience where suddenly, there is a need for the gift, and it becomes more useful than we ever thought possible. 

The spiritual masters tell us that “all is gift” — even suffering. Yes, suffering is difficult, and no, we are not called to like it—but as Christians, we are called to offer our suffering to our Father in union with the sufferings of Christ. In doing so, we are granted grace—that invisible life-force of God that lives within us—and we gain grace for others whom we love and even for people we don’t know.

We help Jesus to save the world by recognizing suffering as a gift.

This week, let us reflect on and appreciate all that we are given, even when it doesn’t look like something we want or need.