The Joy Dare - Feb 2

Feb 2, 2012 - three things overheard today, three gifts

Well, I am not much of an eavesdropper, unless it's my children, :)...but I do work in a school with four hundred children and so it's nigh on to impossible not to overhear something that you were not supposed to hear. Whether they are all a gift is another discussion entirely. But here are some approximation of gifts anyway, a couple more blessed than another..

1. A whimpering cry from in the girls bathroom...which brought to light an accident of the liquid variety and the tears of tiny little girl. After which it was my sweet pleasure to calm her embarrassment with assurances that 'it happens all the time,' (which is no lie) and to oufit her shuddering little frame with clean dry clothes and a sealed plastic bag for the not so dry clothes. It is a gift to love and calm another.

2. A whispered request from a co-worker for a moment alone...and her unburdening of difficulties and sadness and an inability to continue for the day. It was an opportunity to give encouragement and reassurances.

3. A mumble prayer at life group, supplications for the saints and the sinners...and that was just us around the table...and gratitude for the gift of heaven and the hope it brings which was what we'd been studying.

Gifts are all around us....while I might have taken all these moments for granted, it is a blessing, a gift, to stop and acknowledge them.