Sam often comes to me and asks what he can buy me as a gift. It's a hard question because I want to encourage the giving impulse, but at the same time, with Linda and Sam, what more do I need? Is there any possibility of having anything whatsoever nearly so valuable and so joy-inducing.
Obviously not.
This thought occurred to me while in Morning Prayer. If I feel this way, how much more so must God feel.
"But with contrite heart and humble spirit
let us be received;
as though it were holocausts of rams and bullocks
or thousands of fat lambs,
so let our sacrifice be in your presence today
as we follow you unreservedly."
God tells us in scripture that He has no need of rams and bullocks. Our greatest sacrifice is ourselves, given unreservedly. I think of it in scientific terms--in terms from Konrad Lorenz--God becomes imprinted on us (Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm), and as ducklings or goslings, we follow where God leads unreservedly, without question. That is the sacrifice, the gift, the offering He wants from us. Nothing else will do. Just as Sam can give me nothing more valuable than his presence in my life, so we can give God nothing more valuable than our participation in His life.
