I was going to tell you a little story today, but then something happened, so now I want to tell you a different story.
Don’t worry; I’ll tell you the other story tomorrow.
It happened like this: On a day when I’m feeling very headachey, and a little dizzy and a little tired, and I’m trying to get things accomplished, I hear my phone buzz for about the dozenth time. I’d been communicating with my husband and a friend all morning, so I expected it to be one of them, but it wasn’t.
I clicked on the little yellow envelope, and here’s what greeted me:
All the way from Maui. It was from a friend of mine on vacation there. The message that accompanied it said, “I thought this was pretty, so I took it for you!”
How amazing is that? I just can’t imagine what made her think of me, but I was so… what’s the word. Delighted! It brought a bit of brightness to my day, in two ways: one, the lovely bird itself, and two, the fact that my friend was thinking of me.
And then I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if every day, someone sent me a picture of something lovely or beautiful or charming?
And then I thought of a song, by Kim Hill, that I first heard about five years ago. It’s called Just to Say, and the lyrics include lines like this:
This morning my little one, as you woke to the sun, I let the light dance around you…
And that sunlight inside your room is just to say that I love you.
Just about noon today, I brushed the raindrops away to paint the sky above you…
Gave a bluebird a song in G, said to say it’s from Me. I’ve been thinking of you.
I bloomed you a rose with a face faded red, tucked a dream and a lullaby in your bed,
And that moonlight upon your face, and that star shining high above,
Is just to say that I love you.
Isn’t that a lovely message? And a wonderful reminder. After all, it doesn’t make much sense to me, that my friend would see that bird and think of me, while she’s in Hawaii, where there are so many things to draw her attention. So it stands to reason that her thinking of me was prompted by God. And if I’m gonna thank Him for the woodpecker in my apple tree, and the flowers in my front garden, and the wild parrots that frequent our neighborhood, then I need to realize that the photo-gift from my friend came from Him, too.
Every good and perfect gift comes from Him. Whether I realize it or not.
Light Expectations 