I kick and scream,

Yet all in my life is a gift.

Are those mutually exclusive,

Or intertwined in a request to surrender,

To trust, to believe?

Is this a package I am meant to open, now?

Is it one I can hold until later?

Can I sit it on a shelf for another day?

It seems burdensome,

Yet can I refuse the giver?

There is no greater gift than love.

Love calls us beyond ourselves,

To serve, to be present,

To witness, to accompany,

To see the pain and the suffering.

Love also calls us within ourselves,

To find strength and courage,

To see the need and to respond,

With words of hope and encouragement,

Even when words won’t come.

Love calls us to trust,

That the package in front of us

Is filled with more than we can imagine

Of grace and imagining,

 Support and prayers.

And love knows,

That those who need us

May never find the words, 

Yet words are not needed,

Because love is the gift.