Light, Love, Hope

Several years ago, I was invited to teach interpretive movement for Vacation Bible School at our church.  Having just heard the song, “Little By Little,” I felt called to teach this to the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders.  I envisioned them all on stage performing this song together.

The song talks about how little by little the children are changing and growing.

I taught them the sign language for the song, and it thrilled my heart to see them putting their all into their practice time.   We would meet nightly for four nights, and then on the last night, they would all take the stage.

Each class was uniquely different due to their ages, but each student blessed my heart.  Some didn’t want to go to the choir time, as it was not their desire to sing.  They felt called to silently worship by moving their bodies to the words of the song to show deep expression.

When the last night of Vacation Bible School arrived, it was better than I could have imagined it would be.  All of the students made their way to the big stage.  Because we practiced all week, they were eager to show their parents the new skill they learned.  It didn’t appear that any student was having performance anxiety, but they rather enjoyed standing tall with good posture as they began to move to the song.  Their sign language was perfect, and they used great expression during the song.  My heart was beaming with pride as I looked at their smiling faces during the performance.

What a blessing they were to everyone!

When their performance came to an end, everyone clapped and cheered.  My heart was so full, and I was thankful for the opportunity.  When once they thought I would be a blessing to the children, the children ended up being such a blessing to ME!

I was walking around in my garden enjoying the variety of brightly colored flowers when my daughter appeared.  She began to talk about what was troubling her, and my heart longed to help cheer her up.

Later that night when we called my daughter down for dinner, an unexpected surprise of red, purple, and gold balloons greeted her.  Along with the balloons was a card that read, “There you go again … adding sunshine to my world and to God’s!”   She smiled, turned to us with a confused look, then asked, “What are these for?”  We replied, “Just because we think you’re awesome!”

After dinner she took her gift of love and disappeared upstairs.  This was the bright spot she needed in her day, and it helped change things for her.

When is the last time you did something unexpected or received an unexpected surprise “just because?”

Giving and receiving gifts on special occasions such as birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc. are great.  They are very special and meaningful, but there’s just something extra special about a gift out of the blue for just no reason other than appreciating the person and wanting them to know how much they are loved.

Get out there and show some love to someone in your life today by doing something special and unexpected.  Not only will you bless them, but you will surely receive a blessing seeing their face light up!

It was a warm 86 degree day in the south today.   I could hardly wait to get home from work to enjoy some time lounging around the pond in my backyard.  I purposely chose to be present in the moment so I left my phone inside to ensure no distractions.  Paying attention to the blue skies with white puffy clouds that looked like cotton balls floating effortlessly above me, I listened to the birds chirping in the distance.  Glancing at the bird feeders to ensure they were full, I sat down in the red wooden Adirondack chair by the sparkling water.  Looking around in the natural environment where I longed to be all day, I spotted several Cardinals in the distance getting braver by the minute as they inched closer to where I sat. To my right, Bluebirds were flying around the white Purple Martin house attempting to seize it again just as they had las year.

Ahhhh … Spring.

Well, almost!

In 28 more days, Spring is officially going to arrive.  Right now, the warmer weather is causing green sprouts to erupt from the earth and fragrant flowering trees to bloom.  Imagine my surprise when I found a Japanese Magnolia Tree bursting with fuchsia flowers!

Do you take time to just be one with nature?

The world screams at us with such urgency on a daily basic that “this” or “that” is important.  We rush around checking things off of our “to do” lists so much that we are left exhausted.  Take time to enjoy nature and soak in the sights and sounds of your environment.  It rejuvenates and refreshes our souls.