Life is … a precious gift.

It is the gift which keeps on giving, and offers with it the twin gifts of learning and loving throughout the rest of life.

The gift of life and these partner gifts are like threads of gold – white gold, rose gold and yellow gold – plaited and intertwined, inseparable, and strong and beautiful. Yes, life is like a gift of gold – very precious.

We are free to choose to accept or reject these – but what a waste if we refuse, or become so arrogant as to think we have no longer any need to continue learning or growing, or if we have replaced love with a cold or self-focussed heart, or one filled with bitterness or hatred!

As soon as the gift of life begins, with that very first breath, the gifts of learning and loving also begin.

Who can not be delighted at the exponential growth in those early years, watching an infant learning to sit, roll, crawl, stand, and walk? Who does not applaud as the child moves through all the stages of communication, from inarticulate sounds to rapidly acquired receptive language then hurries on to hesitant then confident expressive language?

Even the infamous two-year-old stage of defiantly saying “No!” is a valued milestone. The child has learned to think, evaluate, and make a choice, and has the confidence to test boundaries! The “Why?” stage is equally beautiful – a sign that as a child explores his world, he has begun to think about it, and be filled with wonder. He has a hunger and thirst for learning, not to be quenched.

Who cannot love a child’s expression of delight – “I did it!” – at the mastery of a new skill, whether it be tying shoelaces, riding a bike without training wheels for the first time, or learning to whistle? Who cannot share the excitement of a child losing that first tooth, proud to be “a big girl” or “a big boy”? Who cannot rejoice with the more adult milestones – school and sporting achievements, or learning to drive? All are evidences of learning skills and values, and about what is significant.

The gift of love develops parallel to such gifts of learning. Reciprocal love is normally steadily growing, although there are times when it might not “feel” that way, to the child or the parents, or both. 

One can also learn to love, and acting in a loving way will often be followed by the appropriate feelings.

Parental and family love progresses to the search for mature love. The world is filled with people who need and want love and there are many avenues for giving and receiving love; all are satisfying and enriching.

Surely, we go through life with a desire to love and be loved, for, after life itself, is not love the most precious gift of all?

The beautiful thing about love is that the more one offers to others, the more one receives.

And so the gift of life moves one subtly through all the stages and milestones of learning and loving, starting from the full dependence of a babe to the peak of independence as an adult, which (hopefully) plateaus at a high level before the inevitable (again, hopefully) slow descent into the dependence of old age.

Yet even in one’s declining years, one still values the gift of life with its twin gifts of learning and loving.

Learning still? In old age? Yes. The pace may be slower, but we now know how much we don’t know, how much this complex, beautiful and intricate world is worth discovering.

Are we not still learning to manage change, to navigate new feelings and experiences associated with getting older? Many of these might not be welcome, but we learn to adjust our thinking in order to cope – for we still value this thing called life, this precious gift, this three stranded gift of gold. We want to hold onto it, grasp it with both hands.

Learning and loving are incorporated even when older people discuss their medical issues - because they are trying to understand and learn about a new life-stage, which one cannot prepare for. In helping each other to manage and adapt to these new feelings, people are offering and receiving comfort and support. A different form of learning and loving in old age.

Above all, we still need that gift of love, both giving and receiving it, as we each face the prospect that we will only hold the gift of life for a short while. Love becomes even more precious and valued. The speed of passing days seems to increase.

Without learning and without love, life becomes a negative treadmill, empty and purposeless. Those who refuse to learn or love are the poorer for missing out.

So yes, life is a gift, a golden three-stranded gift. May each of our lives be characterised by learning and loving.

A gift always has a giver. Have we thanked Him for our life - this most precious gift?