Skip to main content

Figuring Life Out - One Thousand Gifts



I love tenor of Ann Voskamp's shared thoughts. The lilt of her voice and the cadence of her words coming together to paint a picture of her mind's heart. Her love of Jesus and relationship with Him pour out and pour into my own. She makes me think differently about Him. She makes me see Him differently and look back at times past with new eyes. New insights.

Every other week, I am blessed to be with these little ones. My heart longs for this time. They have no words, but speak with their eyes, their smiles, their snuggles, their hearts. It blesses me BIG! Last night, I fell asleep wondering which of my loveys would be there today. I dreamed wonderful, happy dreams with a handsome man in his Naval summer whites, wore a pretty frock in a creamy white, danced and laughed. This morning, I woke and prepared myself for my day thinking about the happy sentiment of the dream I had had and the babies who I would soon get to snuggle.

I am usually the early one, but today I was running late--too wrapped up in my happy, dreamy state. When I got to the nursery, a father was there with his baby girl, Josie. She is six months old, has feathery baby hair that is thick and wispy and auburn hued. She has blue eyes and long eyelashes that seem to touch her eyebrows when her little eyes are open. She is a petite little thing who is dressed in her  embellished jeans, long-sleeved shirt with scalloped sleeves and a creamy, cable-knit cocoon cardigan. She looks like a little person. She has the sweetest disposition. As our time together passes the hour, she is getting sleepy. I place the silk-trimmed, emerald colored blanket her mom gave me on the floor and place her on it. She smiles and kicks. I lie down on the floor beside her and play. I think for a moment about my black pants and that I have to greet people in the next hour, but I don't care. I am being given an opportunity to have blessing poured on me from a little girl's heart.

She grabs the edging of her blanket and rolls toward me. She looks like a sweet pea wrapped in that emerald blanket. She puts her knuckle in her mouth to suck and we just look at each other. I smile at her and tell her she is such a sweetie. She smiles around the knuckle in her mouth and I see her eyes move as she stares into mine. Maybe she is wondering what I am thinking just as I wonder what she is thinking. She blesses me with her innocence, her smile without pretenses, her freeness of spirit. This morning is a reminder to me why I am there every other Sunday. As much as I do it for these little children, I also do it for me. These little ones are a balm on my heart. All they know is trust and love. I hope each of them will hold onto that and those that lose it find their way back to it again someday.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Struggles

Struggles. We all have them. My (latest) favorite saying is, "We all have our things." And for me, my "thing" is wanting to eat to fill the emptiness inside. And not like carrots and apples and good for you stuff. Oh, No! The really bad for you stuff. I crave sugary treats. I have been doing so well with my eating lately and have been exercising for the last few weeks as well, but last night nearly took me down. I was struggling with wanting to run--not walk--into the kitchen and make myself a bowl of cereal with some Craisins or a fruit smoothie or a PB&J. I prayed instead. Almost to the point of tears, I begged God for this to pass. I ate some carrots. I drank some more water. I contemplated some tea. I got out my swiss ball and did some wall squats as I watched TV. I had already been out for a walk earlier with ML, too, but I felt like I was coming out of my skin. OBSESSING about eating something. It wasn't food that I wanted, though. I wanted to feed t
6 comments
Read more

Sometimes, Reality is Worse

What if I told you that Joseph/SAM was created to hurt me? Made up to be everything I'd ever want and more? What if I told you everything I believed and knew him to be was an enormous hoax? All because someone wanted to give me what she felt I had given her. All that she felt I had taken from her. I have to admit that while people have hurt me before with their actions and decisions it has been for their own personal and selfish reasons. Usually not with malicious intent.  There has to be a lot of pain and hurt within a person to invest so much into the creation of a fictional character. Someone who would really take the time to know me. Someone who would enlist others to make the ruse real. To call me on the phone, to send me cards from the web, to pick out a card and leave it at a bar where the bartender who gave it to me told me how cute my guy was, to create a Facebook account with pictures and friends, to bring an ex-wife into the mix, pictures from the desert and your trave
10 comments
Read more

Join the Navy, See the World!

There are things we want in life and make happen, but they don't always happen as we'd planned or imagined. My dad had gone to Ohio University in Athens, OH on a wrestling scholarship. I, too, wanted to go to OU, but since he'd dropped out and it had a reputation as a huge party school, it was going to be a tough sell. So, I did my homework and sell I did. At the time (1990), OU was one of the top 10 colleges for Communications in the U.S. That was the degree I wanted and I wanted to go to OU to get my degree. I graduated early and during the time between my acceptance to OU and the College of Communications and pre-college, I had become further enamored with marine life and sharks specifically and wanted to change my major to Marine Biology which at OU was actually a Zoology degree. The girl tried to talk me out of changing my major because it was so hard to get into the College of Communication and if I left, I would have to reapply and hope for the best in my junior year
Post a Comment
Read more