I had the privilege of celebrating my 26th birthday with Michael and the kids last weekend. I can say without a doubt it was one of the best birthdays I have ever had!
We celebrated with 3 massive cakes decorated with flowers and pigs (I was born in the year of the pig!). As usual, most of the frosting ended up on my face and not in my mouth! Every time I turned around to respond to the voice of one of the kids, a small finger would slide across my cheek leaving a yellow or blue smudge of frosting. Before long nearly everyone in the room had a frosting battle mark striped across their face.
I decided to run downstairs and wash my face off before the second round of frosting wars began. On my way back up Jessie, one of our little girls, pulled me aside. As we snuck over to the corner she pulled a small box wrapped in glossy paper with a bow at the top out from behind her back. With a big smile she said, “ This is for you, Happy Birthday,” and handed me the box. As I write this tears begin to form in my eyes just as they did in that moment.
It is hard to put into words the overwhelming feeling I had when Jessie handed me that box. It’s funny how such a small thing can have such a profound impact on a person. All I could think of was Jessie digging through the little she has to find the perfect paper to wrap around the small box full of beautiful little paper stars, and the effort and heart she put into making it.
It is one of the most thoughtful and amazing gifts I have ever received.
Now as I write I wonder if God feels the same way that I did last Saturday every time we offer our day, a prayer, or a simple “I love you” under our breath to him. It might not seem like much in the scheme of things but God sees what we have and where we are and knows that the seemingly small offerings hold an unimaginable amount of effort and heart.
Here’s to another year of small things with big heart!
Posts
