You wake up, run down the stairs and to the tree.
When you get there, you find presents all lined around it.
Every single one has your name on it.
When it comes time to open them, you look at them longingly, desiring to see what is in them.
When you take the present, it looks beautiful. You Know it's something you either want - and have asked for, or something you need. All this inside a box you now find in front of you.
Excited, you begin to open the box. As you do, joy fills your heart, and you thank the giver with joy and love.
Then, the box is starting to open.
The top is coming off...
And you find -
Nothing.
This is what sin is like.
It promises you everything, and in return... lets you down. Even-more-so, it destroys. It draws you in like a drugs to an addict, and continues to fill your life with grief. That's all it can do.
Sin is like an empty present that promises everything, and returns nothing.
God's gifts are like paper flowers given from the husband to the wife. On the outside, it may not look like much, but... when the flower is unfolded, the beauty is uncovered. Each flower is made of love poems and letters, all addressed to you. Everything your heart could have ever asked for was hidden inside the flower that you at one point dismissed as just paper.
