Last night about 6:30 p.m. I made a cup of tea, got my hoodie on, put on my boots, grabbed a blanket and went out into the herb garden. It was wonderful out last night. One of those evenings that one just wants to sit back and soak in all your blessings. It was an evening of memories as well. I sat on my bench in the middle of the herb garden leaned back and looked up into the sky and realized that God had been ever-so-gracious in allowing me to share just the right amount of "something" especially perfect - for my spirit.
When I was young I found myself running away from what I called a boring and mundane life. I always wanted bright lights, city-style bustling and a constant rush of excitement and I was never quite satisfied. I always wanted more. It took me forever to realize that while I may have "wanted" all that, I "needed" the calm, clean air, the tall, gracefully bending trees in the wind, the sounds of birds and the crackling of the twigs beneath the feet of the little animals that run around in the woods. I needed to physically see and feel the sun on my body, the rain on my face and snowflakes on my tongue. These things I needed and in retrospect I realize that God has been sharing all those things with me my entire life. For some the personal experience in treasuring life is entirely different but this is how it was and is for me!
As I sat on my garden bench I began to hear voices. I got up and went over to the hillside behind our property and there in the old water runoff ditch were 2 boys playing and talking and having such a good time. They were probably about 10 or 11 and they were building something and totally engrossed in what they were doing. They didn't even see me watching them, they were so wrapped up in their world. One of them was actually barefooted. Aggh!! They were taking sharp edged rocks and trying to cut into fallen trees to make whatever it was they were building. I watched for awhile and then went back to my bench and just sat and listened to them. I couldn't really hear what they were saying, just the noise - it was like my mind was going back to when my brothers and sister and I used to play in the woods and in the fields building our special, secret hideouts. I bet you to this day I could take you to the place that my brothers and I started to build a log cabin, using rocks to cut trees. Ah, memories! Have any of you noticed that our minds tend to put the bad memories to the back and we have a tendency to remember the good the easiest? I think that's another gift. If we had to focus on all the bad memories it would drive us crazy.
So . . . it got dark and little boys went home and I got up and went back in to the house.
Tomorrow when I wake up to Easter Sunday, the day we Christians celebrate our Lord rising up from the grave, I'll remember the small gifts that he gave me but I shall be forever grateful for the most important gift ever - the knowledge that my life will not end and that I will spend eternity with him and all that I find so beautiful in this world will be no match for the grace he has to bestow on all those who trust in his Son.
Happy Easter.