I just realized it is difficult to enumerate gifts without listing blessings, and we counted our blessings in a previous issue of the Herald. I suppose the reason is that most gifts turn out to be blessings. A gift is bestowed free of charge and cannot be demanded or required. It sometimes is a surprise, and is usually welcomed by the recipient. Gifts can be priceless in value or sentimentally valuable without price. My sister-in-law, Eleanor Wright, declared that the greatest gift is love in a beautiful song she composed, quoted elsewhere in this issue. Follow me as I search for the greatest gift in my life.

Immediately, my wonderful wife Jackie comes to mind, or the much-accomplished four children she has presented to me. How about the gift of horticulture? I love to see things grow, and I am at my most relaxed state while puttering in my yard with the plants I have cultivated. Then the gift of ministry comes to mind. If the Lord had not called me to ministry I am not sure where I would be today. He called me from work in a very secular environment at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where the salary was quite good. Now I am in ministry where the salary is quite good because it goes further with God’s blessing.

Maybe I can consider my parents, Nathan and Willa Wright, as the greatest gift, or my six siblings who made up our household. Certainly, it is a gift from God to be raised in a Christian home where the values are Bible-based, and all your brothers and sisters wholeheartedly subscribe to the same values. Mom and Dad surely launched me in the direction that brought me to this point in my life, and the knocks and bruises and soothings of older siblings cannot be discounted in my development.

Who could forget the gift of friendships? We all have lots of acquaintances, but true friends are precious gifts that broaden and deepen our life experiences. They are real treasures.

All these are cherished gifts. But the greatest gift? I would have to say the gift that is without measure is the gift of salvation that comes through the knowledge, relationship, and acceptance of Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).