On Christmas morning, I looked under the tree but didn’t see any boxes with my name, not even the one containing the special white sweater I requested. After our children opened all their gifts, I gave my husband his present. Finally, he reached to the inner parts of the tree and drew out a tiny box. Inside, I found a beautiful diamond ring he’d bought.

At church today, a friend commented on my ring, and I explained that years ago, I asked for a pretty white sweater for Christmas, not an everyday sweater, but something special. Was I disappointed? Absolutely not! The ring was worth much more than my request and would last the rest of my life.

Or, imagine if you were newly married and thought you’d move into a one-bedroom apartment. Instead, on returning from your honeymoon, the Uber arrived at a mansion. Thinking this was someone else’s home, you said you’d rather visit later. However, the driver said, “I present your new home! You won the lottery this morning!”

How often do we receive gifts greater than we’d imagined? My marriage of 66 years changed my life forever, and I can’t imagine being without that man. Our two sons and two daughters are tremendously important and bless me in dozens of ways. What did I consider when my husband and I married? I knew we loved each other and thought we’d never get divorced but had no idea that we’d be blessed with so many years together. When our children were born, we loved them but couldn’t imagine what fine men and women they’ve become, and we’re so proud of them.

Often we don’t realize the significance of a gift when we first receive it, just as I couldn’t think of the many good years my husband and I have had. When children are babies, we hope they grow into moral, considerate people. Believers in Jesus pray that their children will love and serve God as they do.

I see ways these metaphors parallel what God does for us throughout our lives. I believed Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins when I was a child. My sins at that time included not always obeying my parents or fussing with my brother. Yet, I understood that those were still sins in God’s eyes because they were things he said not to do. Jesus not only paid for those faults, his death and resurrection made me a child of God, not just a child of my parents.

As I child, I had no idea what that salvation would become through my long history with God. He gave me such a wondrous gift that I could never even have the words to thank him adequately, much less deserve or repay it. He gave me a huge diamond ring when I asked for an inexpensive sweater. I didn’t even know to ask for that sweater until the Holy Spirit from God awakened my heart to want it. This huge diamond has lasted not only all my life, but I’ll still be wearing it in heaven with my Lord for eternity.

God has given me many gifts but next to my salvation, I think the most important is God’s tremendous individual love for me. Which, of course, is the reason he planned my salvation, but I didn’t know that at the time.

I know Creator God loves everyone, but he loves me! The old children’s song Jesus Loves Me states the fact clearly, but it’s a song we sing with small children. Actually, it’s one we need to sing the rest of our lives! Not that God doesn’t love others in that same way, because he does. How I wish I’d sung and believed that song when I felt so inadequate at different times.

Our heads know that our heavenly Father loves us, but that knowledge doesn’t go down into our emotions and minds. It doesn’t permeate us, and that’s vital. Then we know that whatever our circumstances, his love never leaves us, even when we don’t have a clue about why we’re in that situation and want out immediately. Father’s love gives us hope for when we’ve come though the challenge.

When my health turned in a way I definitely didn’t like and “bad” major events hit three other members of our family one year, a part of me wanted to run from God. At that very time, my loving heavenly Father assured me of his love more than I’d ever known it previously. Not even in my closest times with him did that expression of love stay with me. He chased me until I returned to him because I simply couldn’t resist that love.

The more I look at my life, the more I realize that this is a Father who delights in giving diamond rings instead of sweaters. Sometimes I concentrate on my desire for that sweater and overlook the tiny box in the tree. I want to learn to appreciate that ring more than I concentrate on the sweater. Often, we make resolutions for the new year, and I think this is a beneficial one to work on all year.

Does that mighty love from your heavenly Father permeate your life? Do you know that he says he will never leave you or forsake you? (Hebrews 13:5b) If you don’t know that wondrous love of God, simply ask him. He’s more anxious to share it than you are to receive it. Will you accept my challenge to look more for God’s diamond rings than a sweater? To look for a mansion instead of a one-bedroom apartment?

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17 ESV).