12 Pearls of Christmas | Day 7 - When God Wraps a Present . . . by Julie Lessman

12 Pearls of Christmas

Day 7

When God Wraps a Present . . . by Julie Lessman

 

Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas blog series!

Merry Christmas from  Pearl Girls™!  We  hope  you  enjoy  these  Christmas  “Pearls  of Wisdom” from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you’ll be able go back through and read them on this blog  throughout  the  next few days.

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When God Wraps a Present . . .

By Julie Lessman

We’ve all heard the adage “it’s better to give than receive,” but never have I agreed more than the year I was engaged to the love of my life.

It  was  truly  a  Christmas  to  remember — spiced   eggnog   and   snickerdoodles   and shimmering presents unwrapped in a circle of love. Of course, we all ooohed and ahhhed over each gift opened, one at a time, reveling  in  the  glow  of  excitement  for  giver  and recipient alike.

And then it was my turn. Everyone waited while I tore into a small box, anticipation fairly shimmering in my fiancé's eyes.

“Do you like it?” he asked, grinning like a little boy when I unearthed a very pretty  silver watch.

No. “It’s beautiful,” I said with a shaky giggle, slipping it on and holding it up for  everyone to admire. I quickly gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. “Thank you so much, babe—what a perfect gift!”

Perfectly awful, that is. You see, when you  are  a  twenty-eight-year-old  Type  A  career woman who is very set in her ways, there are just some things you have to buy for herself—books, costume jewelry, purses … a watch.

All right, yes, I’ll admit it—“high maintenance” is my middle name because heaven knows I’m one of the most particular people on the planet, especially when it comes  to  watches. They have to be digital, waterproof, have a day and date window, an alarm,  chronograph, second hand, both silver and gold metal to wear with either silver or  gold  jewelry,  stretch band skinny enough to fit my wrist . . . and a GPS. Okay, I’m pulling your watch chain on the last one, but you get the picture— NOT  easy  to  find,  especially  with  numbers  big enough for someone blind as a bat.

So, yes, I faked it, of course, thanking my soon-to-be husband for  the  “prettiest  watch  I had ever owned,” because it was—I just didn’t like it. But did I “fake it” with God? Uh, no. I went straight to His throne in prayer and begged Him to help me love  this  watch  because the man I loved gave it to me and I just flat-out didn’t want to hurt his feelings. I even  went so far as to write the prayer request on a piece of paper and put it in my Bible so  I  could “wrap” it in prayer every single day, which I did.

Until the fateful moment years later when my husband used my Bible one day  and  found the note.

“You don’t like your watch??” he says, confronting me with hurt in his tone while his  eyes flicked to the pretty watch on my wrist.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, somewhat confused.

He held up the note. “You told God you hated it in this note I found in your Bible.”
Uh-oh . . . BUSTED!

“Oh, babe,” I said with my brightest smile and a quick kiss on the lips. “That was then and this is now. It’s perfect for me, just like you, and I absolutely love it.
And you know what? I did!!

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Award-winning author of “The Daughters of Boston” and “Winds of Change” series,  Julie Lessman was ACFW’s 2009 Debut Author of the Year and voted #1 Romance Author of  the year in Family Fiction magazine’s 2012 and 2011 Readers Choice  Awards.  Winner  of  14 RWA awards, she also appeared on Booklist’s 2010 list for Top 10 Inspirational Fiction and has just released her 7th novel, A Light in the Window: An Irish  Christmas  Love  Story.  You can contact Julie at her website, on Facebook, on Twitter at @julielessman, or read excerpts of her favorite romantic and spiritual scenes from each of her books at http://www.julielessman.com/excerpts/.