Last month I got a handful of gifts for my birthday. I felt so bad that even though I got more than 1000 birthday wishes from friends and family, only a few took the time to get something special for me. 

The greatest gift someone could give me is not so much that that I expected. The Apple watch or the ebook. But the greatest gift is what I had that evening. My brothers surrounded me. It was the best evening of the year spent together.

Mother Teresa once said, “The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.”

After my experience before my ordination, during and after have coiled my desire to love. My visiting home strengthened this desire for now I feel how it feels to be unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. 

To be loved and to love is the greatest gift one can give me. 

#bloganuary2024

Daily writing prompt

What is the greatest gift someone could give you?

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