A beautiful weekend weatherwise, Memorial Day weekend was one for reflection and for living in the now. Many years of our marriage Les has been deployed during the holiday weekends. There is a poignancy about waking up on Memorial Day or the Fourth of July and you know the bombs bursting in air part of the song is what your husband is facing daily in a third world country. Memorial Day is a somber day in our home, one of thanksgiving and remembrance that not everyone is here to celebrate it.
Monday we spent a few hours in the country driving Vroomhilda with our teenager. The weather was inviting and the joy of being outside after many days resting was encouraging. At one yard sale we stopped, a meager show at best, yet when Madi asked about a tupperware container for her art supplies the kind woman asked that she keep her money and bring her a piece of art to remind her of the sweet teenager who cared enough to protect her tools for painting. She reminded our daughter that few people take care of anything in this world any more. She asked that remember her when she puts away her paints and to think kindly of their partnership, one to create art, the other to protect it. I suspect Madison will deliver her later that day completed work with great joy. The woman explained that to her, the sale was about finding a home, a usefulness, for each item, not an income. I so get that. The woman was in her late seventies and she acknowledged that some things she treasured for their brokenness, the remembrance of the purpose it had served in her many children’s lives, but few things gave her more pleasure than helping useful things find homes where they could be useful.
Giving heart service is a way of life. To appreciate, to value, to encourage, to empower…these are abilities we all have, but the question remains how often do we choose them?
This morning I am reminded that our best gift is to learn to use the gifts God built within us for others. To find that which is created with us to allow others to create what is within them.
In a Joyful Place,
