Our finest gifts we bring.

So I've been listening to "Little Drummer Boy" tonight (check out the cover by Pentatonix!). Yes, I'm aware that it's July. When have I ever been normal?

But it got me thinking. (Yes, I know the story is fictional. Just go with me.)

Here's this poor kid. He's brought along to go visit a newborn baby who is the King, the Savior, they've been waiting for. Everyone's bringing gifts, because that's what people do when they go to visit any royalty, especially the Eternal King. But he's a kid. Kids don't have money, let alone for something extravagant, something worthy of a King. All he has is his drum.

So he plays.

He gives what he has to give. He plays his drum knowing that that is the best thing he has to offer. He puts his heart into his music, hoping that maybe, just maybe, it will be good enough. If I were in that position, I know that I'd be terrified they would laugh at me, or that they would get angry that I hadn't brought something better, something worthy of giving to the King. Instead, the baby Jesus smiles. He smiles at the boy who gives the best thing he can.

And while I know that the story of the little drummer boy isn't in the Bible, I find that smiling baby very symbolic. I think that God smiles when He sees that we're giving Him the best that we can. When we do good just because we can, not because someone might notice. When we put our whole hearts into relationships, knowing that we might get hurt, simply because we know God wouldn't want us to hold back love from anyone. When we create the best art we know how to create, when we do it because we love it and do it for His glory, not ours.

God is delighted when we give Him our finest gifts, even if we think they're not good enough, or the world tells us we're not good enough. Because He knows our hearts. God knows when we're giving all we have, even if it's just a beat on a drum and people think we can do more. And God knows if we're more interested in what other people think than in what He thinks. If we're giving the best that we can, if we're doing the best that we can, then that is enough. The Bible says to do everything for the glory of God, do it in the name of the Lord. It says nothing about perfection or being better than everyone else.

Because you know what? The best gift that we can bring to the Lord is our hearts. When we lay our hearts at His feet, when we give over all of our desires and plans as well as our fear and sin and shame, that is the best gift of all. God never asks us to lavish Him with gifts, or to do more than He knows we're capable of, He is in the battle for our hearts. And if we give Him that, then my guess is He's happier than a kid in a candy shop. If the angels are having a party and heaven is rejoicing, then God is the one who organized the whole shindig. God doesn't want the stuff you can give, He just wants you.

If you're reading this, I just want you to know that you are enough. You are enough for God. He delights in you and all that you are, even if you're wrecked by guilt that you're not good enough. God wants you, just as you are, because when you give God your heart, He will make you enough. He will make you just as clean and righteous as the One who never sinned, the actual picture of perfection. You are, as the Anima Series says, "cherished, loved, and adored above all things by the Creator of all things."

Give what you have to give, even if it's just a beat on a drum. He'll delight in every tap.