Gifts of Love Gone Unnoticed

This post was inspired by a book I am reading right now - One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  You should read it, especially if you enjoy this post.

There are three things you should know about me before I officially begin this post:  First- I used to love riding my bike.  I could often be found doing laps for hours in the empty Kincheloe Elementary School parking lot of my hometown, Dowagiac, Michigan.  I much preferred this to the dangerous and unpredictable terrain of the road.  Second- I am not very observant.  That is an odd thing for a writer to say, but any observing that I do is out of training and discipline. It does not come naturally for me.  Third- Though I have revealed my challenges in housekeeping before, you should know that I was much more challenged by this when maintaining two jobs to put my husband through law school.
Now that you know these imperative details, I shall begin my post.

My husband, knowing that I missed riding a bike since I no longer owned one, bought me a bike one day while I was at work as a surprise.  He wheeled it into our very messy apartment and parked it in the center of the small, cluttered living room.  I came home from a long and tiring day and plopped myself on the couch next to my husband (in the small, cluttered living room now "decorated" with a new purple bike) and began whining about my day.  My husband grinned and nodded; not a typical response to a complaining, cranky wife.  It took me a moment to notice his out of place smile before I began looking around the room for the joke I was clearly missing out on.  Once discovered, the bike seemed to stick out like a sore thumb, but I had so easily missed it!

We both laughed.  I felt foolish and wonderfully in love with my thoughtful husband.  Certainly, he could have announced that he had a gift for me, waved me over to the bike, or placed it out in front of the door in the open and obvious spaces of the hallway.  There is an element of fun to gifts that are not so obvious.

I've been thinking about this story and the Giver of every good gift we have in our life.  How often does He place in our midst these small gifts, knowing they should bring joy to our hearts, and instead we breeze past them; not noticing them in the clutter and chaos of our lives, and plop before Him and start moaning about all that is wrong with this world?  I think pretty often.

I'm trying to imagine God now like my husband- a lover who enjoys to place before me gifts from His heart.  He paints the sky vibrant in color for me, and it passes unacknowledged in a rush to get to church in time.  He lays before me a feast of love in friendship and family that I pick at like a finicky child.  He graces me with the treasure of a small child nestling in sleep at my neck in the moonlight quiet and I bemoan my bed growing cold without me.

Gifts from a lover gone unnoticed.  He carves and molds and paints pleasures into my days, and I am willing to ignore them.  Imagine how disheartening it would have been for my husband, had I never taken notice of the bike.  It's a bit of a stretch, of course, that I would never see a bike in the middle of my living room- no matter the mess.  But should it be any more of a stretch that I should never take notice of the good that God places before me, despite the messiness and busyness of my life?

Three beautiful, loud, rambunctious girls bullied their way into my slumber this morning.  I threw back the covers, grumbled into the bathroom and left them there to soak up my warmth that was all there was remaining of my presence.  Why?!  I suppose it happens frequently around here- me being roused from sleep by Julia calling for Mama, and Mary and Colette, squealing and giggling, in the wake, but it's no less of a gift because it happens every day.  They are filled with joy every morning as they reunite, as though the night was far longer than it felt for me.  Whether they are blatantly thanking God or not, they are certainly relishing in that gift of good companionship every morning.  What a lesson I should take from them!

Perhaps this is why the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these- these children that capture joy in the "smallest" of moments- His simple and pure, everyday gifts- while we adults scramble with our discontent to get bigger houses, better cars, and "easier" lifestyles.  Right in the midst of climbing the ladder of discontent, God places in front of us that which could refresh our souls if only we pause to drink it in.  We forget what we are thirsty for- love, joy, peace- supplied everyday in small gifts wrapped by Our Father in His love.