The perfect moment

I was on the East Coast helping my husband’s sister, Micki, sort through her overflowing garage before moving. Among the stacks of papers and paraphernalia, I found a small manila envelope with a festive Santa sticker and Micki’s name in my mother’s beautiful handwriting. A jolt of sweet, nostalgic pain seared my heart.

My mother is gone now. But years before, Micki had visited us at Christmastime; and Mom had welcomed her with a warm, cranberry-scented embrace like another daughter. Amid the joyful chaos of my family’s celebration, Micki found the little gift under the tree, which she’d tucked away and forgotten.

Though Micki had never opened the present, my mother’s loving gesture wasn’t wasted. It had been patiently waiting until the perfect moment, when I would discover the gift and share in the sweet memory as Micki and I opened it together.

Heaven’s gift waited until just the right moment too: a baby, born in a stable and tucked in a manger-cradle. God’s love letter, wrapped in fragile flesh, for those who would recognize and come to Him.

Lord, thank you for love that never fails. This Christmas, help me to appreciate your beautiful handwriting all around me in the pages of my Bible, the majesty of a sunrise, the sound of a child’s laughter, and the scents of pumpkin spice and pine. Your love: ever present and everlasting.