The Gift

So, there's been this song that I've been searching for for quite a long time. It's called "The Gift" and unfortunately that's all I could remember beyond what the song was about and it was made more complicated because Jim Brickman has a song that's also called "The Gift". And so, tonight I was looking for the song, trying to find the lyrics so I could look it up on youtube and I finally found it! This song is so amazing that every time I hear it I always want to cry. The message is so wonderful. It's about an orphaned girl named Maria, who finds a bird with a broken wing and decides she's going to nurse the bird and get it's wing all better. She buys a cage with the last money she has and puts it in there and takes it with her and everything and then that night (it's christmas time) people are going to the church where there's a gift giving service for the manger there. Well... so many people had brought wonderful gifts like incense and perfumes and diamonds that Maria felt embarrassed because she didn't have anything except for the bird. So she waited 'till midnight so that no one would see how sad she looked and went in crying because she had nothing to give beyond her bird when she suddenly hear's the Lord's voice asking her what it is she's brought, and that she let the bird out so He can see. And as she opens up the cage the bird comes flying out, its wing good as new. Once the bird leaves the bells begin to strike as midnight has come and right then the bird begins to sing its song that no words could say because it was such a sacred tune. All Maria did was sit and listen and realize that the birds' song was a gift fit for a king. Every time I heard how humble she is and how compassionate the Lord is and that he would truly do something like that... I want to cry. The Lord loves every single person in this world. Even if all we have to give is the clothes on our back or a bird that we found on the roadside. My Lord loves me dearly. I know this with such fierce power that I really am beginning to understand why I'm going on a mission. Theres so many people out there who feel lost, or unloved or unworthy or unwanted and they have no idea that there is someone out there who wants them and feels so much love for them. This is why I need to go out and teach people. Because they deserve to feel as if they have someone in their lives they can trust and who will love them unconditionally. If anything, I have learned that the Lord loves unconditionally. And if I hadn't, how could I go out and teach people that the Atonement is real? That our Savior lives and that he Died for us because he feels so much love towards us? Even during the times that I feel alone or unwanted (mostly by boys ;)) I can't ever forget that there is someone who see's how I'm hurting. He knows exactly what I need and he will provide. Even some of the times when I am not asking but just crying out to Him. Somehow... my Lord always finds a way to give me comfort. Whether it's in the form of a friend and the amazing words they have to say about something that had happened or in a simple sign that happened so suddenly. I am so excited to go and teach those who need this gospel and who are ready to hear it! I am so excited to let them know that Someone is watching, and someone knows their deep desires and will help them. I can't help but want to cry when I think about that. Or this song that has such a deep, powerful, spiritual meaning to it. It makes me understand the words in a scripture verse "For I was enhungered and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me. I was imprisoned and ye came unto me."
How wonderful is that? How... amazing and powerful those words are. That someone on this earth has so much compassion to do that for someone else. It also reminds me of The Good Samaritan, how a man was laying on the road side and one of his one kind and one of the other kind (pure blood people) stepped over this man who was hurt and bruised on the side of the road and the only person who would help him was the man of mixed blood whom everyone hated because he didn't have pure blood. How awesome and such a wonderful spirit that person had. To see someone on the side of the road, hurt so badly he can't even move to take himself home, and take that person into his own home even though he knew the man was one of the men who scoffed his kind. Such compassion and what an awesome lesson to learn!

The Gift

A poor orphan girl named Maria
Was walking to market one day
She stopped for a rest by the roadside
Where a bird with a broken wing lay
A few moments passed till she saw it
For its feathers were covered with sand
But soon clean and wrapped it was traveling
In the warmth of Maria's small hand

She happily gave her last peso
On a cage made of rushes and twine
She fed it loose corn from the market
And watched it grow stronger with time

Now the gift giving service was coming
And the church shone with tinsel and light
And all of the townfolks brought presents
To lay by the manger that night
There were diamonds and incense and perfumes
In packages fit for a king
But for one ragged bird in a small cage
Maria had nothing to bring

She waited 'til just before midnight
So no one would see her go in
And crying she knelt by the manger
For her gift was unworthy of Him

Then a voice spoke to her through the darkness
"Maria, what brings you to me?
If the bird in the cage is your offering,
Open the door and let me see."
Though she trembled, she did as He asked her
And out of the cage the bird flew
Soaring up into the rafters
On a wing that had healed good as new

Just then the midnight bells rang out
And the little bird started to sing
A song that no words could recapture
Whose beauty was fit for a king

Now Maria felt blessed just to listen
To that cascade of notes sweet and long
As her offerings was lifted to heaven
By the very first nightingale's song

By: Aselin Debison