Birthday Gifts

September 2, 2013

You ask what I want

And I don’t know. I never do. I never have.

But I saw the gift you made for me

and it makes all mine for you

just a lot of  trash.

Now that day is gone,

And I know what I truly want --

Just a little gratitude…not yours, mine.

Just a little gratitude

If I could just get a little gratitude

For what you, Love, have done for me;

Just a song still hidden inside -

lyrics, lil’ rhymes, hearts inclined together,

I’m saying, then

I would be content.

If I could just have clear sweet memory

Of your words, kind, once said to me;

Just some words still written inside --

little valentine cards signed “Forever”

In crayon, then

I would be content.

So what I truly want is …

Just a little gratitude…not yours, mine.

Just a little gratitude

So do you think it’s too late

For someone to write neatly inside me,

Red permanently penciled beside a diary date,

Perhaps beside this very date,

 A little note, a little thank you note,

 That you, Love, would find

someday?

More Kindergarten Blessings

Lots of kids went to kindergarten for the first time this week.  That's a good thing. People have said that all they need to know, they learned in kindergarten. In kindergarten one can learn music, read books, color, paint, and play with friends. Oh yes! In kindergarten, you are also encouraged to stick your hands in white mud to make your mother cry. This is confusing, but still a wonderful thing.

Of course, in kindergarten there are also wise and loving teachers, discipline and safe boundaries, and someone always watching over the children. Kindergartners get lunch, snacks, and a roof over their head.  Kindergartners have it pretty well, really.  I didn't go to kindergarten when I was little. I am not exactly sure why. I imagine it was because I couldn't sit still long enough or I didn't like to be told what to do by the nice ladies who weren't my Mom. I may have I missed out.  I only remember sticking my hands in plaster-of-Paris once -- that was at vacation Bible school. I'm sure it made Mom cry. Many of things I did back in those days had that effect on her.

In reading Isaiah 61 yesterday, I saw a reference to another Kindergarten - a special garden where righteousness and praise are made to "sprout up" before the nations; a living-color display of God's glory. That "garden" is apparently a metaphor for the Lord himself. 

Reading those verses reminded me that dwelling in the Lord is not just about simply "remaining" - hiding under the roof of a school or temple; it is about being rooted in, and nurtured by, the Creator of all things good. We commit our rotting flesh to the soil of God's special garden and somehow, by some miracle of God's nature...something true, beautiful, and eternally-living will sprout. And the children of God, corporately and individually, testify to the glory and power of God by living pure and fruitful lives within the body of Christ.  This image of the mystical Kindergarten seems to be sticking in my mind.

So Lord, I thank you for making Kindergarten. Thank you for making a place for me there. There are so many ways for you to show people your righteousness and praise -- to display your glory. And to create this display from living things...actually from dying things that you have restored...I am amazed that you chose to do it this way. It is perfect, of course… your Way. It is the best way possible. But it is still amazing.

And God please bless this new crop - the children of your garden, may you be glorified in them.

 (Isaiah 61:11)