Gifts

This morning, as I was sitting at a traffic light I
was thinking about so many things.

I wished it was not a drizzly, gray day.
I wished I would hear good news today about the 200+ jobs for which I've applied this last year.
I was wondering how I was going to make "Christmas happen," for my girls.

The list goes on and on, but as I watched the turning traffic go by, I looked at the students on a rickety old activity bus. They were probably heading to the Natural Science Center, right down the street.
The little heads bobbed up and down and the expressions on most of the kids' faces were just bland and uninterested.

Except for one.

This little girl, about 9 years old was all lit up inside. We saw each other, smiled and I just had to wave. She excitedly waved back, while her smile stretched from each ponytail, framing her face.

I don't know her story and I don't know for sure where she was going, but she brightened my day.

Later this morning, a woman walks into the shop where I work and began to rave about some of the artwork. She then said: "I don't have any talents." I immediately corrected her and said: "Of course you do!" She went on to say, how she wished God would let her in on what the talents, were.
We got to talking and she opened up to me about her family, a former foster child that is now back with she and her family, and other obstacles she's overcome in reference to her children.

I said: "There's your talent. The greatest of all gifts is love, and you have it in immeasurable amounts."
She said: "I needed that, and you've now made me cry."
We talked a little while longer and she thanked me for "pouring into her life."

Two different scenarios and two people, different races, different ages, yet they had one thing in common: they encouraged me. One did so, by a simple smile and wave, the other by choosing to confide in me.

These last several months have been anything but simple.
Health issues, financial chaos, rejections and again....I could go on and on. 
But, today represented where I really am in the scheme of things.  I need encouraging, and I need to encourage. I am the conduit of grace and if I look for it, the opportunities are everywhere. It often seems like we are fighting and stretching for everything and for every one's attention. There is just so much to be done. Right now, I hate that I can't go buy groceries for single moms everywhere.
I hate that I can't get my mom a car or my daughter a car. I hate that no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get ahead.

But, the word says our gifts will "make room" for us. I don't have any idea what even this afternoon will bring, but I do know how to use the gifts. They've made room for me over and over again.
As Christmas is upon us, so many are hurting and are desperately in need of encouragement, a shoulder, dinner for their families, or maybe even that wave from the window.

There are touches of grace in so many moments. When we've been hurt or are hurting, we can feel just like the woman I mentioned previously who said she had no gifts, but I will tell you this.
The gifts are there.
The grace is there.
We can make a difference in some one's life, in so many little ways.

Gifts.

We can all do something.
We can help with groceries.
We can support our friends' businesses.
We can look at the tires on our neighbor's cars.
We can wave to sweet girl smiling at us from a bus on a dreary day.
We can listen to the hurting.
We can love.

We can love.
Real love. Not just the "God bless you and don't you look pretty?" on Sunday morning love.

Give

the gift of yourself and of your attention. If I hadn't been looking, I would have missed that sweet face on the bus, and if I hadn't been paying attention, a sweet woman wouldn't have had the encouragement she needed.

Wave.
Listen.
Give.


 "A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great." Proverbs 18:16 (ESV)