A friend once told me it’s not the gifts received as much as it is the memories made. 

Grown children remember the traditions more than the childhood presents. The celebration behaviors possess deeper roots than what got wrapped in pretty paper and shiny ribbon.

Rare the gift whose usefulness extends beyond an age or season. 

The puzzle gets outgrown. As do clothes. As does the John Deer tractor you peddle around the patio filling the bucket full of gravel only to dump it and refill again.

(My french press is the exception: it gets used every morning. Every morning.)

Gifts tend to have specified uses. Which means they spend a good deal of time gathering dust.

God our Father intended the salvation of our souls to be a continual gift. One that redefines memories.

Jesus’ friend Peter put it like this: “…(you) are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” —1 Peter 1.8,9

Most of us file “salvation” in the same folder as “heaven:” A gift intended for the hereafter not the here-and-now.

We mistakenly limit salvation to an instance. To when death arrives. A special coupon we can redeem in order to avoid the consequences of our broken nature.

Peter tells us we are already receiving salvation. Our souls already being remade. Our failures already being forgotten.

Compliments of the Creator of all of life living in us. Claiming us. Filling us. Applying His coupon to us.

Our Father wants you to live in the gift of salvation today. To allow His longterm view to bring comfort in suffering. Companionship in loneliness. Stamina in exhaustion.

You are receiving the salvation of your soul. It’s a gift that makes memories every day.