what does that have to do with anything?

This is my friend.  Yeah, I know it's not a huge Harley and is only a 750cc Honda, but I love it!  For one because it isn't a Harley Davidson therefore it won't breakdown on me constantly, but mainly because it brings me great joy and great relief from stress.  With this it's the one thing that has ever made me 'semi-cool' I suppose.    

It also means so much to me because it was given to me by people that I love very dearly, a gift just because, a gift that I wouldn't change, well...except for new pipes someday.  I have enjoyed this bike so much that I've put over 5000 miles on it in less than a year.  That's a lot of miles for a bike considering it pretty much sat covered by a tarp from November to March.  

So here's this gift, this thing that someone gave me that brings me joy and comfort.  A gift that saves me money on gas, a gift that makes me look better, a gift that gives me yet one more reason to grow my goatee really long.  A gift that makes me realize that I really don't deserve something like this, trust me.  

Earlier today I was washing my gift, because I've never had a nice new car and this is literally the only thing I've owned that's worth keeping up, and it was covered with bugs because like I said, I ride the crap out of it.  Anyway, I was washing it today and I don't know if you've ever tried to wash a motorcycle but it's not very easy.  There's all the nooks and crannies, all the different parts, and all the wonderful chrome, add all that up and it takes quite a while.  

But after I was done washing my gift and polishing all the chrome, I stood back and looked at it.  Right there I realized that it was worth the time and effort to wash it, it was worth the energy to polish it right and to make it gleam.  It was worth it because I really, really like my gift.  It was worth it because someone gave that to me and without saying I owe it to them to keep it up nice, keeping it nice shows my appreciation and care for my gift. 

Right there I realized that my gift isn't unlike my free gift of grace from God.  That because He did what He did for me, I love Him for that.  And I am so thankful for what He did for me, that my outpouring of thankfulness and love for God's gift makes me want to polish it.  Makes me want to spend time on it, makes me want to keep it from places that will soil it.  

I realized that as hard as it is to keep my bike clean, it's harder to keep myself clean and pure.  It's harder to keep my desires from interfering with this love relationship that I have with my Creator and I have to work at keeping my Gift pure, polished, and to maintain its growth.  

So many of us believe that to have a relationship with Christ is to accept Him, attend church or at least an Easter service and we're good.  But if you believe, if I believe that all of this is real, don't you think it's worth our time to polish and clean?  Don't you think it's worth our effort to keep our minds and hearts pure?  Don't you think it's worth pursuing with all that we have?  I mean if this is real, it's God and that leaves us with 2 choices...all or nothing.  

I'm so thankful for my Gift from God and for what He has done, is doing, and will do in my life.  I'm also very thankful for my friends that have brought me so much joy from their gift to me.