Great Gifts at Great Costs

On Christmas, I got a gift about which I feel about the same way that I feel about the Atonement. Both were great gifts that came from great people at great costs, and I ultimately don't know how I should feel about that.
I know how those great people want me to feel about it. They want me to be grateful. They want me to appreciate and enjoy the gift without any reservations, and, to honor their wishes and sacrifices, I'll certainly try, but I can hardly help thinking about how much sacrifice went into these gifts.

People I love went through great pain to give me those gifts, and the compassionate side of me wishes they hadn't. I don't want either of those people (or anyone else) to have had to have suffered for me.

But there's no point in wishing that now. It's water under the bridge. The pill has been swallowed. The bitter cup has been drunk. The costs of these gifts were great, but those costs have been paid. The question now is what I am going to do with these costly gifts.

Of course, I am going to use them, and I am going to love these gifts and those who gave them to me. And if I think about the sacrifices that went into producing those gifts, I will try to focus on the love that motivated those sacrifices instead of the pain those sacrifices caused them.

I can't sing I Stand All Amazed with all my heart because it isn't "wonderful to me" that Jesus paid such a great price to pay for my sin. It isn't wonderful that Jesus died for me or that He had to die for me. But that isn't what the hymn says! The hymn says "Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me!" (emphasis added). Christ's sacrifice wasn't "wonderful"; His motivation was.

So, that's the part I'll focus on when I think of these gifts. On their own, these gifts are wonderful. I love them, and I'm grateful for them. I'll use them with great appreciation. Naturally, I wish these gifts hadn't cost my loved ones so much, but the love that went into the sacrifices that produced these gifts is what makes these gifts so special, so that's the part I'll focus on. For my own sake, I'll try not to think about the great sacrifices that went into them. Instead, I'll focus on what great gifts they are and the great love that went into making them.