Those Little Gifts

Recently I was asked what I got for my anniversary this year. I couldn't remember the gift this time, but I did remember a conversation that day which contained special reflections. That was the real gift. And often at Christmas or birthdays or Mother's Day there is emphasis on celebrating and gifts. It is always fun and I have to admit I am shamefully guilty of excitedly wanting to hurry right to the "opening the presents" time (even when it is someone else's special day). But as I grow older I realize the most treasured gifts are those stashed away in my "Rememory Bank." I love that expression which came from one of my grandchildren. She had asked me something and when I replied that I didn't remember, she said: "Grandma, I think your rememory is broke!" So now I try to place special things in my Rememory Bank. I tell those memories over and over to keep them securely in place. (Or at least that is my excuse for repeating myself.)

I have a feeling that God loves to give us the dearest little gifts in the tiniest little packages. At a song service at our Church recently, I had just finished playing the piano and headed to the pew where my daughter and her 7 month old were visiting. I was not feeling the best and as I slid into the pew and next to them, those little arms reached over and grabbed my face and suddenly I was "slathered" with quite a greeting. You do know that "slathered" is a combination of slobbered and lathered? Anyway, it was the sweetest thing and I really hated to get out my handkerchief and clean it away. I might not have played the best piano but I felt like the yummiest Grandma on the planet.

Yesterday my husband had a wonderful opportunity to meet an elderly saint and he came home telling me about him and the profound effect of their time together. He talked about him and the things the dear old gentleman had shared and how God used him to inspire and clarify some things that he needed to hear. My husband is a very busy man and had not planned for this encounter, yet we think God was surely in it. It was really amazing the impact of that meeting and I realized that this was one of those little gifts.

I wonder how many little gifts God sends us that we fail to recognize as being from Him. I should like to give Him credit and offer thanks for sending us the most wonderful things.

"Every good and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, who never changes." James 1:17