Gifts....

Life...is a gift...old age, a gift...those sore and creaky bones, the stiffness in the joints as we age...the wisdom, the experience, the lifetime of rights and wrongs, the falling down and getting back up and moving forward...the reflection on inner workings, on healing and growing as a person....a gift.

Acquaintances drop away, true friends remain...and as I have told my children from birth, family is forever. I may not see family as often as I like, but like the heat of the sun on a cold day, I know they are there...waiting in the wings for a word, for a call.

The heart of the matter, the meat and bones of what is important rises to the top...we live un-offended as issues that were so important as young people show themselves, reveal themselves to be chaff in the wind...so much fluff and no subsistence, no weight...all show no go...

Justice...policing...matters of the heart...grief...sorrow...LOVE...grace and mercy...kindness and compassion...become top dog, the importance of the day.

I sit in a hotel bed today...far from my cozy fire...sipping a hotel cup of coffee, shudders...when did I become a coffee snob? I burrow a little deeper in the pillows as thought that will make up for the bad coffee, but truly it is but another gifted moment in a gifted trip that I live in thankfulness and gratitude for. I have been taken under the wing and brought along and I shake my head in wonder and bless God for His provision.

The sound of the props turning in readiness for flight yesterday afternoon, the scents and smells of airplane interior, the babble of voices...and lastly the thrill of taking off and landing...pilot stuck that landing in bumpy weather, ah the absolute excitement of flight and conversely the knowing, the calm knowledge we would land safely. God has much to do in my life yet and the lives of my children and family...I have much to do, much to accomplish, and oh dear hearts, so very much to say.

For the first time in the longest time...I feel covered, loved....me...I spend many moments checking myself, do I like this or is this a leftover from the past? I am coming to see that I am what my mother hated being called...eccentric...'(of a person or their behavior) unconventional and slightly strange.'

A sense of humour warped by three older brothers, cousins (you know who you are), three uncles and aunties, a mother who had the requisite nurse humour and my own experiences in the medical field. Morbid, slightly tilted, off-kilter...me.

Dear hearts, I share all this to say....be you...be you, whoever that is. Discover who you truly are, what you like and dislike...write it down, live it, love it....it is all a gift for you are fearfully and wonderfully created to be just that...YOU.

Love who you are...I have heard the same word over and over these past months...do not despise that part of you that cares so deeply, that no matter what someone does and the determination to never speak to that person again, we continue to care...to love...to forgive... this is who God made you to be, with some guidelines to keep you safe...some high tower walls to keep the truly evil at bay, to recognize the enemy at the gates and deny entrance.

You are a gift....

Now walk that out...let it put a spring in your step, a twinkle in your eye, a smile on your face for all who come within your gaze....stand tall in the knowledge that you are a gift from the Creator, a precious gem in need of a little polishing.

Speak your truth dear treasures, with confidence, with kindness and grace....see your world turn to all the colours of the rainbow once again, day by each minute, each hour....

Bless all you do today....may you know the heart of the Father, may you know the comfort and peace of being loved for who you were made to be.