Sweetness

Posted by Picasa
She was nine years old today--our first grandchild! Last night I wrapped the gifts that her mommy helped me pick out--perfect for this unique little girl. Tiffany-Amber--such a feminine name for a child who prefers dinasaurs to dolls.
This morning as our presents for her lay waiting on our kitchen table, her granddad Paul asked, "Isn't she going to come upstairs?" I said I'd go down and ask.
In the cosy downstairs apartment all was still morning quiet. Molson looked up, chew toy in his gentle golden retriever mouth. He carried on--went back to chewing. He doesn't get excited unnecessarily. "I love that dog," I thought to myself as I walked through the living room into their big front room. I found Tiffany-Amber on the couch watching television with her mom while her sister and dad slept on. "Happy birthday, darling!" I said, "Are you coming up to open your presents?" Her face lit up and with a questioning glance at her mom, who nodded, she jumped up , eyes bright with excitement.
On the table lay three gifts. I knew that the top one was just simple and almost said so, but stopped myself, just letting her enjoy the moment without my influence. Small fingers tore away the bright paper. The gift was just a pad of drawing paper, but she held it up to her mom. "Drawing paper--just what I needed!" she said. The next gift was a book all about making paper airplanes, complete with templates and paper. This brought even more sparkles to her eyes--it was the perfect gift for her (and later in the day resulted in a fleet of paper airplanes that flew through our hallway). Lastly, there was a wooden box with a metal handle and clips, containing an assortment of pastel crayons, pencils, paints, paintbrushes, sandpaper and eraser--her very own art box. "Wow," she said as she gazed at the wonderful array of colours--pastel, primary and earth-tones. No one ever received gifts with greater appreciation.
But her granddad, who our grandchildren's parents probably despair of ever reforming, was not going to leave her complete birthday happiness to chance. "Now," he said, as Brenda and I wondered what was coming next, "If, at the end of the day, there is something you really wanted, that you didn't get--let me know." Brenda and I looked at each other and wordlessly communicated volumes. "He's a hopeless case--there's no changing him," but part of me saw the heart of God in him--his heart to bless us, to bless liberally, to delight us by his giving all that he has to give--and the very best--and I smiled as I thought of it.
Psalm 85:12 (New International Version)
12 The LORD will indeed give what is good,

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Voyage

Image
Note from Belinda: I read this prayer yesterday and again today--and then I read it to Susan after cell group, when we were having our "second cup" of decaff coffee together. I knew that she'd love it. She has a framed picture on her office wall of a little blond haired girl in a sail boat on a stormy sea. A fatherly sailor,with a weather beaten face; in a gray sou'wester, holds her close, as he capably mans the tiller. This prayer reminds me of that picture and influenced what I wrote earlier today, when I used the metaphor of ebbing waves to describe a lack of consistency and my desire to crash over the sandbar into the peaceful pool on the other side.  ( Susan sent me a link to the painting, which was done by American impressionist Robert Reid in 1888.  It hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in NYC.) Be bless ed by the beauty of this prayer. OH LORD OF THE OCEANS, My little bark sails on a restless sea, Grant that Jesus may sit at the ...
Read more

Samson Beaver and his Family

Image
I first posted this in 2009, a little show and tell about one of my favourite photographs. Back then it hung on a wall, but now it's in my bathroom where I see it every morning! I'd forgotten the history behind the story, researched when I first posted this and thought that current readers might enjoy it--a story from a time when this land was still being discovered, not so very long ago. This photograph was taken by Mary Schaffer; artist, photographer, writer and naturalist, in 1907. It is of a Stoney Indian named Samson Beaver, with his wife Leah and daughter, Frances Louise. I bought the photo on a postcard, on a trip to British Columbia and it hangs framed, on the wall I face when sitting at my laptop. I love it. Don't you just feel as if you could gather Frances Louise up in your arms and cuddle her? I get a deep sense of peace and happiness when I look at this family, sitting in the grass of a long ago fall. They are dressed in their best, beautiful c...
Read more

Ere Zij God--Glory to God in the Highest! A Dutch Carol

Image
By Belinda This beautiful Dutch carol was shared today by a friend of Dutch ancestry, on Facebook. I had never heard it before but absolutely loved it. It moved me deeply, especially at the end after the crowd leaves the church and then breaks into spontaneous singing again around a brazier, with the sound of chiming church bells in the background. Listen to it with headphones or a good speaker to get the full effect of the harmonies. And happy first Sunday in Advent!
Read more