Angel or Alien?

 This is a reprint of a story I wrote that appeared in last year's Chicken Soup for the Soul's Christmas anthology: 

“Mom! I made an angel for the top of our Christmas tree!” 

My five-year-old daughter exclaimed these words as she excitedly pulled the treasure she'd made in her kindergarten class from her backpack. Then she held it up for me to admire.

It consisted of a six-inch cardboard cone spray-painted gold, very much resembling a metallic gold, upside-down ice cream cone. To that base she had glued white pipe cleaners on the sides and bent them so that they came together in front. There they were also glued to a small rectangle paper so as to appear to be holding sheet music. In the back, she’d glued a lacy doily which I assumed were wings.

Up to that point is wasn’t so bad but its head looked like something out of a science fiction movie--a rather large white Styrofoam ball in which my sweet daughter had stuck large, colorful pins to make its facial features. She stuck the ones for eyes through small, round metallic gold papers. The papers were not glued down, and thus did not rest against the round Styrofoam ball. They sort of stuck out all around the pin eyeballs, looking a bit more like fins than eyes. This caused the angel’s eyes to look sort of like insect eyes.

It’s hair was a series of yellow pipe cleaners that had been cut short and individually stuck in the head. They were bent so they hung down rather than sticking straight out, thank goodness. It’s halo was another yellow pipe cleaner that had been stuck in the very top of the Styrofoam head and then bent into a circle around it. Since she had used the same pipe cleaners as the hair, it sort of looked like one piece of hair had gotten wind-blown and messed up. I had to fight the urge to smooth it down along with the other hair.

But my daughter was so proud! What’s a mother to do? 

Of course, I told her the strange-looking thing she held in her hand was beautiful and I climbed on a chair and placed it on the top of my tree.

… and there it remained, or was placed again, rather, year after year after year. It peered down on us Christmas after Christmas looking more like a space alien with its metallic, bulging eyes, than an angel. And every year, as I placed it on the tree, I tried to assess my daughter’s level of attachment to it, always hoping we could finally laugh at it and declare it for what it was—a five-year-old’s funny attempt at making an angel. But each year my daughter smiled and admired it when it came out of the Christmas box. Many times, she excitedly placed it in my hand and exclaimed, “My angel! Here Mommy, put her on top of the tree.” (I suppose the angel was a her. It was hard to tell but my daughter seemed to think it was.)

One of the years when my daughter was in middle school, as I was taking the angel out of the box of decorations, its head fell off and rolled onto the family room floor. I jumped at the opportunity, quickly suggesting that perhaps it was time to get a new angel for our tree.

My daughter’s face fell. Even though she was close to being a teenager, she still held affection for this strange item that bordered on being a monstrosity. “Or… I could try gluing the head back on and see if it stays,” I quickly suggested. This pleased my daughter so her angel once again graced our tree … for many more years.

I was beginning to wonder if I would have to have that bug-eyed thing topping my tree forever! I would see beautiful trees in stores and magazines and other people’s houses, but not mine. Mine was forever doomed to be a tree decorated with homemade ornaments my three sons and one daughter had brought home to me through the years. And it would forever have this insect-like alien with messed up hair sitting on top of it!

I resigned myself to it. It appeared inevitable.

Then one Christmas morning when my daughter was in high school, she handed me the gift she had bought me. I opened it and there before my eyes was a beautiful, elegant, store-bought angel tree-topper! I have never been so happy to receive a gift in my life! She and the whole family burst out laughing when they saw how happy I was.

Today, my tree is a mix of homemade ornaments and purchased ones. But sitting on the very top is a lovely angel holding tiny candles that light up who has normal looking hair and eyes and an elegant halo. It looks down at us in a gentle, smiling sort of way, instead of leering at us through bulging eyes.

And the other, much loved angel of days gone by rests in the bottom of the decoration box in two parts—body and head—because her head came off again. Every year I look at it and laugh … but I think I miss it a little. I love her too much to throw her away. She is a treasure in her own way.

My daughter is grown now with a child of her own. One year, I offered to glue her angel’s head back on and let her use it or her Christmas tree. We both burst out laughing.
 

 Christmas Card Christmas Christmas Tree Advent

 Christmas Card Christmas Christmas Tree Advent

Devotion

 

It's fall so I'm sharing a back-to-school devotion. A longer version of this devotion is included in one of my devotional books, "Glimpses of Prayer". Shirley and I decided to list this book as a perma-free on kindle (meaning it is always free.) It's something authors do for promotional purposes if they have several books. It seems to be working for us as this book has been sitting at #1 in two categories for several days now. 

                                                       A Simple Prayer

                                                     Read: Ezra 8: 21-23

     “… to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and our possessions.” Ezra 8: 21b

            A new school year was about to begin. In fact, it was to start the next day. I had been asked to lead in prayer on behalf of the parents of this Christian school at its “before the school year prayer meeting”. As I began to pray, Ezra’s prayer came into my mind.

            Ezra’s prayer is a very simple one, but it is perhaps my favorite in the entire Bible. Ezra confessed that he was afraid to ask the king for soldiers to protect his group on their journey because he had told the king that God’s hand was favorably disposed towards those who fear Him. So, instead, Ezra called upon the people to fast and pray. They prayed for God’s protection over them, their little ones, and their possessions. This prayer is so precious to me. It shows me that we can talk to God about everything in our lives – even our most basic needs.

            As I led in prayer that day, I recited this scripture. I reminded God that we, the parents who had gathered to pray were people who feared Him. And like Ezra, we were asking for safe journey through the upcoming school year for our “little ones” – however big they may have become!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, how thankful we are that your hand is favorably disposed towards those who fear you! Lord, thank you also for the privilege of bringing any and all of our concerns to you in prayer!

Thought for the Day: We can talk to God about anything!

 

 

 

 

Summer / Fall Vacation

                                  

We just got back from a week at Hilton Head where we go every September. It's one of my favorite places in the whole world! My late mother-in-law loved it too. In fact, she loved it enough to buy several timeshare weeks there, one of which we inherited when she passed away eight years ago. This is the September week we always use. There was a time when I didn't like this week because it occurs after school has resumed. When my kids were in school, I found it hard to take a week of vacation once they were back in school. Today, things are so different in my life. My kids are grown now, so I can travel whenever I want to and now I've discovered what I suppose my mother-in-law knew--spending a week at Hilton Head right after Labor Day is the best! The crowds are gone but the weather is still warm enough to swim and visit the beach. Paint me happy! 

Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

 

My 91 year old father is a Covid-19 survivor. His doctor calls him Lazarus. I call him Daddy and am so thankful he is home from the hospital and regaining his strength. 

About a month ago, now, Daddy decided to go back to church and teach his Sunday School class for the first time since March. He loved teaching Sunday School, something he has done most of his adult life. A physician, he's a brilliant man who still pursued knowledge even in old age. And he always loved sharing his knowledge with his Sunday School students. 

But that first day back, a man came to class not knowing that he had contracted the virus. He sat in an empty seat next to my brother who attends Daddy's class. A few days later, my dad and brother received notice that they had been exposed and a few days after that, they both showed symptoms and tested positive themselves. 

Both were hospitalized but my brother's illness was not as severe and he was released a few days after being admitted. Daddy was released but then readmitted and remained in the hospital for ten more days, a very sick man. There were truly times we thought he wasn't going to make it. He finally received plasma with antibodies and began to turn the corner. The day he was released, the man who he had contracted the virus from passed away. That man was only in his 70's. 

All of these men were Christians--my dad, my brother, and the man who passed away. They all had many people praying for them. Why did God take one and spare the others? God's ways are not my ways and long ago I stopped trying to understand why God chooses to do what He does. I learned years ago to pray to Him but trust His answers even when they differ from what I might have wanted, and to thank Him, always. Today, I thank Him again for choosing to give my 91 year old beloved father a little more time on this earth!

White Lace and Promises

It's been a couple of months since I've posted in this blog. I normally try to post something new at least every month but it's been a very busy last couple of months.

My youngest child, a 23 year old son married his high school sweetheart on June 13. She is so precious and we are so happy to have her become a Michael! Bless their hearts, things changed for them nearly every day.

Last fall when they got engaged, they started planing for a normal wedding--you know, the kind that has bridesmaids, groomsmen, and guests sitting in the audience. But then came the pandemic. They sort of put things on hold in February-March when everything in our city, state, and nation shut down and closed up. My son and many of his groomsmen had chosen to wear the same suits they had worn in another friend's wedding the year before. My son attended a Christian school from kindergarten to 12th grade and because of this, he has a close-knit group of friends. But of course, my son's groomsmen differed by a few from the friend who marred the previous year. I had just received my grandson's matching suit but the two college friends had not purchased their suits when the stores closed. No problem, since my son and bride-to-be were then told only 10 people could attend their wedding.

They canceled the reception and planned a drive-by where their friends could drive through the church parking lot to say hi to them. Then just two weeks before the wedding, the wedding planner decided to call the wedding a church service and as such got permission for 1/3 the building capacity, which came to 100 people who could now come as long as they maintained social distancing. Bridesmaids and groomsmen were back on! I had made the gesture of offering to provide the bow ties for all of them as my son's gift to them. Now suddenly, I found myself going to four different Kohl's locations buying one bow tie here and two there trying to match the one my son had already bought. Kohl's hadn't gotten a truck in since March and there was no time to order these. I drove about 30 minutes in one direction from my house and then 30 minutes again in the other to four different Kohl's that had whole sections boarded up from the protests and riots the night before, all the while wearing my mask.

The once canceled reception now was going to be a small family-only occasion in my backyard and we were scrambling to figure out the rehearsal dinner, which was back on too. In a flip of tradition, the bride's parents arranged the rehearsal dinner while I planned the reception.

It was a whirlwind with the winds changing every day, and surprises every minute, including when just about two hours before the wedding, two college friends discovered their suits were not the same color blue as all the other groomsmen. Remember that previous wedding? Well, the brilliant best man thought to call a couple of the guys who had been in that wedding but were not in my son's. He ran out and rounded up two more matching suits about one hour before the wedding started. In the end, though, it all turned out about as beautiful as if we had planned it all to go just the way it did--church wedding with attendants and guests, outdoor catered rehearsal dinner, small family-only outdoor reception and still a drive-by to greet the guests individually who'd had to keep their distance at the wedding ... and since the reception was in my backyard, Ty's beloved dog got to don a bow tie and show up for a picture too.

It was a beautiful time, a precious time, and certainly a wedding we will all remember!

Spring is finally here!

In my last post, I wrote that I was hoping for spring. Well, it has finally come with its warm sunshine and beautiful blooms but now I'm hoping that life will go back to normal. I, like everyone else, am stuck in house under a shelter-in-place order from my governor because of the Covid 19 worldwide pandemic.

So far, I am mine are well. My sister and her family all got the virus and suffered with it for a couple of weeks but all recovered. I have an acquaintance who is not fairing as well.  His 23 year old daughter is currently in ICU on a ventilator because of the virus and many others I do not know have lost loved ones to the virus.

I see this compared to the 1918 flu and find myself wondering what life was like for them back then. Recently, my 91 year old dad told me about a crystal bowl his mother received as a wedding present. I asked when she got married and he said, "December 26, 1915." So my grandmother was a new wife during that pandemic. Now her son who was not born until 1928 is ninety one years old. I guess I should count my blessings that something like this has not happened in a hundred years.

My grandmother saw this flu, World War I (which her husband served in as a doctor), the Great Depression, World War II, and the illness and loss of her husband and one son at young ages. What a brave woman she must have been! I was named after her and am proud to be her namesake.

So, as I stay at home with television, computers, iphones, and a healthy family … I realize I have nothing to grumble about.

Hoping for Spring

The groundhog told us a few days ago that we're in for an early spring.

I sure hope he's right! Here in Louisville, we haven't had a very bad winter. Only a few snows that barely covered the ground. This is my kind of winter! Deep inside of me, I'm a child of Africa. I grew up in a world that never gets cold and I would be happy still living in a world like that.

Of course, just a few days after that groundhog told us all spring was on its way, many places in the nation had a sudden blast of winter. In Louisville, the schools had a snow day--the first one of the year and probably the last, too.

But the days are getting longer. The sun is now setting after 6:00 and by the end of the month it will set after 6:30. I wake up in the mornings now and hear birds chirping outside my window. The trees are starting to bud just a little and my heart rejoices.

Sometimes winter seems forever and it seems spring will never come. But God is always faithful. His word promises in Genesis 8:22, "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease."

...ok, it doesn't exactly say spring will also always come again as long as the earth remains, but you can't get to the heat of summer without passing through spring.

Come on spring!