oblivion

On Christmas Day I hosted 10 people for dinner. My aunt and uncle were among the crowd. They are both in their 80's and live on Saltspring Island. They are both independent and function very well. They drive a Pathfinder. Somehow the topic of driving came up and my aunt said, "oh, I'm not a good driver at all" which is a completely true statement. It's a wonder she has never had any major accidents. She got ticketed in California for failing to merge at an adequate speed and had to be coached via loud speaker by the Highway Patrol man how to merge properly. I'm not sure what he thought she was going to do once she reached intended speed, but that was about 20 years ago and she's around to tell the tale. The key to her driving success is her complete oblivion to the other drivers around her.

Her oblivion has also served her well in other ways. She told us a story of when her and my Uncle were in Fiji. She took a multi day trip on a small boat to some remote islands. They anchored off shore and took some smaller boats in to explore for a while. Once the exploration was done she decided to swim back to the main boat. My aunt is an excellent swimmer and has incredible endurance in the water. she said the boat didn't seem too far away so off she went. She said she was a little more than halfway back when she could hear some people yelling in "what seemed to be a frantic tone. I stopped and treaded water for a few seconds and realized they were yelling, 'sharks, sharks!'" "I looked back at the shore and thought, 'that's a long way to go.' so I just kept going." the whole time she's telling this portion of the story she's making small breast stroke motions just above her plate with her fork dangling in her right hand. There is absolutely no trace of panic or distress in the tone of her voice at all. "The captain was very angry at me when I finally made it back to the boat. He just kept saying, 'why did you do that? did you see any of us swimming? why did you do that?'" Auntie Margaret kind of giggled at this point and said, "I knew I could make it to the boat. It really wasn't that far." 8 of us are staring at her in disbelief while my uncle just keeps eating his turkey. Oblivion is a beautiful thing.

gifts

The other day at work I heard a conversation. "What's the point of all these gifts?" "yeah, I know. Every year I buy crap for people and I'm never really excited about it. It seems so pointless." I'm not sure how the conversation ended but it got me thinking.

I love to give presents. I love to find things for people that I know they will love. The joy it gives my heart to watch someone open a gift they aren't expecting is worth every penny I spend. I also enjoy receiving gifts. It's fun and heart warming to receive something from someone simply because they love me and thought of me.

Often the gift is more reflective of the giver than the recipient. How much time and effort was put into the gift. How well they know the person receiving the gift. How deep the emotions are for the person they are giving to. So much is wrapped up in a gift.

At Christmas we remember a significant gift. The most important gift. God the Father gave His Son to the very world He created. Jesus, came in the form of a helpless baby and gave Himself to the people He molded. To the people He knew before they even breathed their first breath. He gave Himself into the hands that would one day bind Him to a tree to pay for the sins of those He made. He, God incarnate, subjected Himself to full dependency. He needed to be fed, changed, taught and protected.

We give gifts to remind us that He gave the ultimate gift. I think if we remember that then giving gifts does mean something. It means we understand, even a little, how to love someone.

switch a pic

"who wants to work on a picture together?" she asked. "No wait, we should all start pictures and then switch every 2 minutes and see what happens." So that's what we did. Crayons in hand we all started to draw. some random. some intentional. Ding! switch your pic. Quickly there were aliens floating in the sky and care bears in a grave yard. The pictures were colourful and eclectic. But we all had our hands in all of it.

It's fun to see what happens when you let someone else draw on your picture. It's so much more than you ever imagined it could be.

rainbow

Oh how I wish I had my camera so I could show you the sight I saw right at the end of today. A beautiful, perfect rainbow arced high in the sky. The color was brilliant. It was so easy to delineate the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. I stood at the patient's window with a big grin on my face. "what do you see that's making you smile like that?" "It 's a rainbow. A really beautiful rainbow." My impulse took over and I kicked the brake off the bed and rolled her bed to the window so she could see it too. We both looked out the window. I sighed. Faintly I heard, "thank you." "you're welcome."

Because the rainbow represents the promise of God to never flood the whole world again my mind went to that story and all the promises He has made. A former pastor of mine said, "when you hear the promises of God it's as good as hearing history." In other words, the promises of God are so true and so sure that we could write it in a history book for all to see. I sit here thinking of all the promises I know. Promise of eternal life. Promise of life and life to the full. Promise of a hope and a future. Other promises that God has whispered into my heart and my ears.

Thank You for the rainbow. Thank You for Your promises. Thank you for keeping Your promises. Thank You.

alternative driving

As I was walking home from buying new shoes today I saw a sight I had never seen before. A man, driving a car, very well, with his left foot. All decorum within me fled and I stood on the corner watching him drive slowly by with the steering wheel between his big toe and his second toe. I stood and watched as he turned left into the lane. It was a sight to behold. He was driving with his foot because he had no arms. amazing.