I am lead parent in a Foreign Service family, and we move often. When we arrive at a new home, a “welcome kit” is waiting for us. It is a big box of everything we might need before our belongings arrive in the moving truck. Inside, we’ve got some basic sheets. The cheapest coffee maker. Used plates, pots, and pans. A can opener that exacts a price from one’s knuckles when used.

It is an odd gift, sitting in our house for us on arrival, waiting to be unwrapped. But it honestly can be a gift, if I let it. In using the kit, I am shown how few belongings I actually need. So freed, I am much more likely to heed the psalmist’s exhortation: “Do not forget all the gifts of God.” I am able to see more clearly that everything is a gift.