Receiving Good Gifts: Part I

It’s fun to do things for other people.

Mosely and I made my mom’s Snickerdoodle recipe this week.  (The recipe card is actually in her handwriting.  I like using that card.)  And when we were done baking, Mosely wanted to give all of our cookies away.  To Mandy and Jody and Nate and Lanier and Greg Boone and the guys who were cutting a tree down in our yard right then – Ben and Jim.  So she put cookies in two cups and carried them to Ben and Jim.  And she bagged some cookies for Nate and Lanier.  (Apologies Mandy, Jody and Greg – not sure I remembered to follow through on the rest.  My bad.)

Mosely is learning that it feels good to give.

But somehow I seem to find it so much more difficult to receive.

(Maybe it’s pride.  I don’t know, but I figure pride is to blame for so many things – why not this?)

I had purchased tickets for London and Mosely to attend a theatre performance.  At the last minute, however, I realized that I was not able to arrange childcare for Piper, Bergen and Otto and it looked as if the girls would simply have to miss the show.  But then our friend Nate came to the rescue and offered to escort the little duo to see “Toad and Frog”.

And I was already grateful.  Grateful that Nate was willing to spend his personal time taking my daughters to see a play.  Grateful that the girls did not have to miss the show.

But the morning of the show, frankly, I was overwhelmed by Nate’s thoughtfulness and love for our girls.

He arrived early and when he came in the door – he was carrying flowers!

Two six-year-old girls immediately became shy and grinny-faced, holding their daisies and practically bobbing with excitement.

We received the lowdown on the rest of the day’s events when the by-then rowdy little crew returned much later that afternoon.  Apparently there was an early stop at Dunkin Donuts.  An after-the-play lunch at Chick-fil-A  (ice cream included).  And somewhere in there a journey into the dollar store where the stay-at-home siblings were even remembered with surprises.

Truthfully, that kind of affection for our family is humbling.  It’s beautiful.

To witness love and generosity poured on my children is powerful and really difficult to describe.

And it’s hard to receive.

Not because I don’t want it.  (I do.)

But because I don’t feel deserving.

And I am genuinely surprised at its abundance.

And immensely encouraged by such precious offerings of love-in-action to our family and our children.

(Later, I’ll share another story of good gifts being abundantly placed in our laps by people’s acts of kindness.  But for right now – I can only contemplate one at a time.)