Receiving Everything as Gift

By Dale Gish

In Ignatius’ First Principle and Foundation and in the Contemplation of Divine Love, God is portrayed as a generous giver who has given many gifts. All creation is a gift. We are a gift. And life is filled with gift upon gift from God..Ignatius invites us to receive everything as “gift”, and it’s a wonderful invitation to try to live into. 

As we try to receive everything as a gift, we quickly notice that some things are easy to receive, while with other things, we struggle to receive them as gifts. When we try to receive everything as a gift, this does not mean that everything looks and feels like a gift in the direct sense. Terrible things are not directly gifts. For instance, if someone murders someone, that is not a gift from God; it is an evil act that the Evil One rejoices in and God mourns.

Because we have a God who specializes in bringing good out of evil, we can look for what gifts God may bring or redeem out of something bad. So when something is not a gift in itself, we look for what gift God may bring out of it. We look for how God brings something good out of what was meant for evil.

It is also okay to have things that you are currently unable to see as a gift. We all do. We are invited to ask for more of God's love and grace, which may allow us to see the gift. We can entrust these things into God’s hands and see what God will do.

Most importantly, God is such a generous giver that we have many obvious gifts to receive and celebrate. The things that are obviously gifts vastly outnumber the things we are unable to see as gifts. So don’t get sidetracked. Allow yourself to receive the obviously good gifts of God. There are so many obvious good gifts, that we can become incandescent with gratitude as we recognize and receive the good gifts of our God. He gives so generously. Give it a try and experience a beautiful way of living.

© Dale Gish 2025