When two young bright shinning eyes look up to you
with delight!
When five little fingers
carefully
hold
a Dandelion
out to you.
Do you express
joy and thankfulness
with an expression
like.
"Oh Wow,
God sure makes LOVELY flowers
for us to enjoy!
You picked them for me?
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing
God's love
and
beauty
with me!”
I have to be honest...
I used to say -
"Oh thanks, that's nice."
And in the back of my mind
I thought,
"This is a WEED!
I need to throw it away.
And
Oh I hope she didn't blow the "wishies" all over the yard
so MORE weeds will grow."
This sweet
little child of God
used to follow me out into the yard
ANY time the door was opened.
She always found
a leaf,
twig,
flower,
rock
or some other bit of nature
to give to me.
I used to continued to think,
"Why does she give this STUFF to me
and
with such a big smile
like she is giving me something
of value."
Then one day I noticed...
she did not follow me outside anymore.
It seemed like it happened all of a sudden
but it probably happened a little bit at a time.
Well, I am a slow learner
but I finally prayed one day,
"God why is she not coming out to discover nature and play. "
Playing inside;
coloring
watching life
instead of living it
seems to be her choice now.
It hit me like a ton of bricks...
I had not delighted in her gifts.
The
ONLY
gifts she could give me
- those from God's nature -
flowers,
rocks,
twigs,
leaves
and yes weeds.
I had TAUGHT her that SOME flowers were of value
a rose, for example.
But the rose pricked her finger,
so how could it be considered
good.
The little yellow flower
so close to ground,
so abundant,
so easy to pick
was of
NO
value?
I see now how confusing this must have been.
I put her coloring sheets on the fridge
and
displayed them for all to see.
But God's art work
that she so lovingly gave me
(behind her back)
I tossed out door
int0 the yard
where I thought it belonged.
now
Praise to God alone....
and
thank you God
for
gentle
correction!
in our home
we have a place
of honor,
value
and respect
for
His
beauty
The stones,
leaves,
twigs
and
other bits of nature
she so lovingly picks up
are
displayed
on a stand.
The dandeliones
now have a vase. :)
"The earth is the LORD's,
and
everything
in it"
"The grass withers
and
the flowers fall,
but
the word
of our God
stands
forever."
