Gifts for My Sisters

It is my hope to become fluent in all love languages. However, there is something particularly joyous about delivering meaningful gifts with heartfelt words on noteworthy occasions.

Below are records of my affection toward my sisters, fellow Muffins with whom I wade through this expedition called life. I hope that the objects I procured for them speak deeply to both of their souls, and that my tenderly-crafted messages also echo through time, weaving our bonds ever stronger.

For Shona’s 25th Birthday

Dearest Baby Sister,

I wish you a most wonderful and memorable 25th birthday.

You have lived a quarter-century, which marks the end of an era, leading to a new beginning.

It is certain that the past year hasn’t been easy for you; the pain and chaos have affected me as well. And yet, God has used the circumstances to bring us closer together through it all, and offered me the privilege to look after you a bit more in recent times. I am grateful for the opportunity.

I am excited that we managed to finish recording your singing for our project at the studio this year, and also for you to settle into my family home. Don’t forget that we even assembled a bed together with missing instructions. You are such a smart girl; I value your contributions and insight, and enjoy working with you, no matter what the task may be. Honestly, I think we make a pretty great team!

Your presence often brings out the best in me, purifying my heart. In this dawning of a new season, the second quarter, I hope that I may continue to be your loving support, in one way or another.

Please consider the meaning of my gifts to you as we commemorate your precious life.

So I bestow upon you a quartet of plants (plastic and real), each signifying one quarter of a century.

The first is a LEGO-style noon flower, blooming under the midday sun. It seeks to capture the totality of your 25 years of lived experience, as you persevered even through scorching heat. These defining years are etched in time, hence this flower will always stand radiant — after all, plastic is forever.

The second represents this new phase you have set foot upon. I grant you lilies for their symbolism: white, to reflect your purity and innocence as you embark on a new journey; and pink, to articulate the love and admiration I feel for you. These real flowers fade and wither, reminding you that the years you now live during this second quarter are fleeting, for such is life. Therefore, seize the day!

Encased within the remaining few plants lies your mysterious future. The third and fourth quarters are distant and unknown, just like these tiny, succulent-looking cuties, whose purpose and identity we’ve yet to understand. Rest assured, we shall find out together one day.

Additionally, I am giving you custody of a chubby sashimi-seal toy to keep you company at night. Hopefully, this sleepy pal will help bring forth calm and comfort as you rest.

So there we go: 25 significant years, sealed in history. And now, onto the next 25!

For May’s 43rd Birthday

Dearest Big Sister,

I wish you a Big Beautiful Birthday: the biggest, the most beautiful birthday anyone has ever seen!

No words adequately describe all that you mean to me — and I know words; I have the best words, believe me. But with confidence, I can at least say that you have my deepest gratitude for sticking with me throughout life’s many unexpected challenges.

Ours is a spectacular journey. Quite frankly, nobody has seen anything like it. Even across Australia, among millions and millions of partnerships, no other couple has walked such unique path together.

We have persevered, in a large part, thanks to your big, tenacious heart. I know it is absolutely HUGE — nobody knows more about your huge heart than I do, trust me.

And today, we continue to walk, side by side, toward the brightest future that only God can offer. Some would say that, despite numerous twists and turns along the way, we carry one of the most successful stories in the history of our nation… perhaps even in the history of mankind!

Setting aside the Trumpian hyperbole, allow me to flesh out some of my keen observations…

Marriage is recognised as the strongest relational bond that can exist between two people on earth. Logically speaking, this makes divorce the most powerful separator known to man.

As it stands, we are divorced, and yet not separated. By divine reconciliation, we remain connected closer than ever, united as siblings. Simply put, the most powerful separator failed to keep us apart!

It is unmistakable that God’s fingerprints are all over our lives. He who has overcome sin and death — the ultimate separators between humanity and our Creator — is indeed the very one who made our renewal possible. And now, just as nothing can separate us from the love of God, so too our sibling relationship verges on becoming unbreakable; it is made to endure forever.

The journey hasn’t been a walk in the park, of course. Your forgiveness and the sacrifices you have made for someone as broken as me will never be forgotten. You carry the scars of the past as proof, while I carry the joy of tomorrow, thanks to you. And of Jesus: by his wounds, we are both healed.

To commemorate this occasion, I would like to gift you with a set of bowls, a few mugs, and a vase. These are fragile items, especially around clumsy old you. They are chosen with intent so that when — not if, but when — you inevitably break one, it would be a reminder of God’s grace upon us.

For as fragile as we are, replaceable items we are not. We may break, as I often have, but we are made to last forever. To quote Lebanese-American author Ziad K. Abdelnour: “Until you are broken, you don’t know what you’re made of.” Thank you sincerely for not discarding me in my brokenness, and instead allowing time and offering support as God continues to transform what I am made of.

The quote above comes from a book about Kintsugi, which I have also included in this gift package. That explains why several of the pieces bear golden cracks as part of their design, as the traditional Japanese technique aims to accentuate scars, rather than to hide them.

By the process of Kintsugi, shattered objects accept their past and emerge stronger, more beautiful, and more precious than before — a true testament to the power of healing and resilience.

And so I leave you with another quote from the book, this one from French director Michel Audiard: “Blessed are the cracked, for they will let the light through.”

May these scars of gold again make us whole…

May they shine with God’s grace forevermore.