As many of you know, I was up last week helping celebrate my sister's 70th birthday. A milestone for sure! When I asked her what she would like for her big birthday, she said: "Just your presence." It got me thinking about how many people in my life are my "present;" that is, a gift to me. I thought of my twin and her husband, my niece, my dogs, my friends, my colleagues, and, of course, my wonderful congregation.
But how many of us think of ourselves as a gift? It kind of makes me uncomfortable if I think about myself as a gift, as if I won’t “fit” or be something someone would like. But that isn’t true. I must be a gift after all, you all show up every Sunday, my friends and family call me and ask me to spend time with them, my dogs greet me at the door (OK, not as exuberantly as they used to, they are 11 and 12 after all!), and my colleagues ask my advice. What about you? Can you see how you are a gift? That your presence is what people really want all year round? Because it’s true: You are a gift.
Rev. Sian Wiltshire is Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church's minister. Please feel free to reach out and say hello! She can be reached by email, revsian@ocuuc.org, or by church phone at (714) 556-2882 (x302).