When you write books, you have to carry book boxes. When you carry heavy book boxes, your fingernails break and chip and get filled with brown box dust. I was about to go to speak at our mom's tea and sweet Christie Weakly, an adopted daughter, who is beautiful and also smart, said, "I will make your hands beautiful--let me file them and paint them for you."
So, we snuck away to a hidden hallway, behind the room where we would be meeting, and she began her work of art. But it didn't just make my hands more acceptable, it made my heart feel loved and grateful. In the midst of working hoursevery day for 4 weeks, this is a little moment that stands out in my mind.
It is the little ways you fill a heart--when you may not even know how much it meant. A kind word, a hug, a small token of love, a service to lighten the load, coming along beside. These are the small things that make a grand contribution to the filling of our hearts with all that we need to keep going.
I have seen so many ways that God has blessed me along the way, sending angels in the form of sweet friends, women who work side by side with me at conferences, those who send sweet notes of encouragement and prayer to email or fb, a sweet friend who spent an hour at my house while I was writing and put away all the valentine decorations in my home, knowing I could not, and even a 25 year old son who cleaned my house while I was away judging a speech and debate tournament for Joy and returned to a sparking home.
Oh the small graces in our lives that fill our hearts. I am so very thankful for so many of you who care. May He fill your hearts with the knowledge that every little deed given in love goes into the heart. Know that all your small deeds and practices of love are the grand investment that add up to make a difference in someone else's life.
Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.
Henry David Thoreau
PS Thanks, Spritti Bee, for sneaking this picture. I appreciate you, too.