Gifts From the Heart

By Victoria Osteen, Friday, June 24, 2011

God has given us all wonderful unique gifts and talents to use to glorify and celebrate Him. We are created on purpose for His purposes. Now more than ever, it's so important that we communicate this truth to the children, the leaders of the next generation. The Bible tells us to train up children in the way they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). We all have children in our lives. They may not be our own, but we have nieces and nephews, neighbors, friends, and children of coworkers. Children touch all of our lives. We all have the opportunity to sow seeds into the next generation; and there's nothing more important that we can leave on this earth than a legacy of faith, hope, and confidence in our God.

That's why I began writing children's book a few years ago, and I'm so excited about the latest one which is coming out today! "Gifts From the Heart" illustrates this concept-that we are created uniquely, with gifts and abilities to honor God. It doesn't matter what you have in your hand, it matters what you have in your heart. In the book, there is a great celebration taking place for a King and everyone from the entire kingdom is invited-except the children. And only the finest gifts were allowed. The children so badly want to celebrate the King so they decide to throw their own celebration. One little girl said, "I don't have riches or gold", but she knew she could sing. Another kid knew he could paint. Another could juggle. And so on. They are full of excitement, anticipation, and joy to celebrate the King in their own way. They had no money or fancy gifts, just their talents and their joy, their gifts from their hearts. Eventually, they capture the attention of the King! From afar, the king hears a beautiful song and is so amazed that he leaves his own celebration and joins the children. He leaves all of his fancy gifts and finds the greatest pleasure in the simple gifts from the heart.

Even though it is a children's book, it is a lesson we can all relate to. At the end of day, what matters most to God, what moves His heart isn't our fancy words and impressive possessions-it's the condition of our hearts. It's our desire to come to Him, just like little children and give Him everything that we are, whether that be service to others, a giving attitude, kindness to strangers, or the ability to sing praises to His name, through it all, remember, He is looking at your heart!