My birthday…

FaceBook says I have lots of messages…

People call to say Happy Birthday…

Even the Google search page says “Happy Birthday” when I click on it…

But I am really waiting for my wife’s present…

She gives good presents.

She walks toward me holding a small bag…

A very fancy bag….

Inside…

A box of chocolate…

Not just any chocolate…

But chocolate from a nearby store that proudly proclaims, “Our chocolate is not candy!”

Indeed it is not.

The store’s proprietor styles himself a “chocolate chef”…

His chocolate is not to be gulped by the handful…

A “handful” would require a second mortgage.

It is to be removed from the package one piece at a time…

The chocolate aroma savored…

Small bites taken slowly so to appreciate its chocolate flavors.

This chocolate needed to be guarded.  Hoarded.

There are six small pieces in the box…

I have no intention of sharing them with anyone.

I carefully put the chocolate in the very back of a kitchen cabinet.

The doorbell rings…

My daughter, her husband and my granddaughter

“What did Mom get for your Birthday?” my daughter asks

“Chocolate.  Really great chocolate.”

“Wow.  Can I have a piece?”

“Uh…sure.”

There are still four pieces left.

“Is it really that good?” asked my wife.

“It’s that good….

“Would you like a piece, too?”

Three pieces left…

“That looks good, says my son-in-law.”

Two pieces…

My granddaughter looks up with without saying a word…

“Which piece would you like, I ask?”

I look down at the box…

One last piece of Chocolate.

I could save it for tomorrow, but why wait?

The chocolate is gone.

I look around the room…

And know that the real gift is the love that prompted the chocolate.

Love that grows when it is given away…

Love that lasts forever…

Love never ends…  1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Because it is Love that comes from God…

…God is love.  1 John 4:8

And He never ends…

“The LORD reigns for ever and ever.” Exodus 15:18

 

Note: this post first appeared in March 2014