I was sitting beside my brother, on the front row in Church ready to enjoy the service and hear a wonderful message. A few minutes later there was a sudden rush of activity at the end of the row we were on. I saw my two darling nephews and my pink little niece arrive with their lovely mum! None of them had noticed me as I was hidden beside my taller~than~me brother!
~ ♡ ♡
I then turned and arched my head around all obstacles to catch their eye…the first one to see my loving look was my sweety pie nephew. He is a few months away from being 4 years old and I am honored to have him as my godson! What a sweetheart he is! What happened next still remains a source of absolute bliss to me…Conor lept from his chair, and instantly transformed into a battery operated toy…Well what I mean is, that he shook his arms, began to jump up and down on the spot….then with face lit up and a smile from ear to ear, with eyes as big as a baseball, he ran to me and began to literally climb up my legs to get into my arms…I of course opened my arms for him and lifted him up to me. He scrambled up and wrapped his arms and himself around me.
He tucked his head into my neck and said over and over ‘Nisey Nisey Nisey!’…..I was overwhelmed with surprise, not that he was happy to see me, as he always is…but the outward display of affection took me by surprise. He was animated with excitement and wanted to be nowhere else. It had only been a few days since I had last seen him.
Now if I had promised him earlier in the week that I had a small gift or a treat for him, then his eagerness would have been expected ~ But I had only me to offer, no gifts, no promises of his favorite treats, nothing but me, my love and my open arms ~ And I was enough!!!
I was the focus of his efforts and his energy! And I loved receiving his animated love!
As he squeezed his little self around my neck and hugged me affectionately, another thought began to rise in my mind and my heart. Another Love began to speak to me. The love of God. God has chased us with His love. He longs for me to run to Him, not for what He can give me, not for what He has promised me, not for what I need, but simply because He loves me and I want to be near Him. Simply because with Him I am lifted up and I am safe. Simply because He loves me and longs for me to want Him with no strings attached. My eyes welled up as I sang a song of thanks to God for this little excited affectionate nephew in my arms, and for the God who holds me in His….It felt like a massive group hug….
~ ♡ ♡
I was wrapping my love around this little warm bundle and God was wrapping His big love around me. Love is amazing, but WOW unconditional love is quite breath takingly beautiful! Don’t miss it today ~ both in giving and receiving!
Yum…is there anything better than finding some chocolate that you forgot you had?…I did just that today. Even better it was a Rolo, and better still, it was the last one. I looked at it and mused, surely I should be giving this to someone else? But there was just me here, and just me who really wanted some unexpected chocolate. I deserved a treat after all.
There are times in life when you really want to give something away, when you have such a desire to touch someone’s life with hope, peace, joy, affection, words of support and strength. But there are days when you have to be that word of support to your very own soul too. So I popped that lovely sweet last Rolo into my own mouth and just savoured it.
I let it melt in my mouth.
Knowing that it was the last one made it even more special, but also caused me to take time to really get the most out of it that I could. If there had been another two in the tube maybe I would not have appreciated that last one as much.
But for me it would have been more special to give it to someone I love, because I love romantic gestures. Life is about reaching out to those around us and making a hard day somewhat easier for them to bear.
I have been blessed with some real treasures in my life, who brilliantly shine their love and warmth into my life on a daily basis. I am grateful for them.
But today I just needed the last Rolo. I needed to give something to my own heart.
“It is just a chocolate Rolo Denise!”, I hear you say. Ah yes I agree, but it was the value on it, which changed it for me. I could have quite easily wrapped it up and decorated it in a nice gold wrapper and posted it off as a surprise to someone dear.
Today I needed to let myself receive. Sometimes we forget to give to ourselves.
For the past few weeks, a line from a famous U2 song has floated through my mind at random times of the day…”And you give yourself away, and you give, and you give…”. Yes what a gift it is to give to others. What a precious thing to have those in our lives who unconditionally give to us. They call you up just to simply say they were thinking of you. Or they drop you an email to let you know you are loved. Precious! But when was the last time you gave something to yourself? Did you feel guilty being kind to yourself? Sometimes we forget to wrap love around our own selves, to listen to the cry of our very own heart for quietness and stillness, for understanding and focus. Well as I lay on my bed and savoured that last Rolo, I allowed a very small piece of chocolate remind me in a big way, that it is OK to take time out for the simple small round chocolate things of life, as well as the grander more important events too.
I would have happily given that last chocolate away, but it was nice to give it to myself.
So time and chocolate are my lesson today. Take the time to enjoy something that you give to yourself. Take the time to give to others because everyone is battling something more than likely and chocolate shared is always more fun!
If there is something you need to change in your life, than do it! It may mean that you are quiet or it may mean that you become more vocal than you have been in recent days.
You know what needs to happen in order for you to be more YOU these days than you have allowed yourself to be.
I recently sat down and watched the movie My Fair Lady, with my Mum. I loved it. The innocence and the beauty of a life that realized her worth, her potential and her creativity. But when the intermission came, I paused, because it just made the second half all the more worth waiting for. The intermission told me that what was coming next was worth pausing for, worth pausing for effect, worth taking a few quiet moments to either put the kettle on or think about what had taken place up until that moment. Maybe you need an intermission in your life. Maybe you need to hit the pause button, and think about your position. It is so true that life has no remote control, you have to get up and change it yourself.. I know this full well having broken my TV remote several months ago. So when I do watch TV, which is only now and them, when I really want to change the station I must get up to change it myself! So must you, in your life….take the time to pause, savour that last Rolo, then get up and change the station. Time ticks by so fast.
There are some things in our lives that we simply cannot change and these things we surrender to the hands of God, who is all knowing. There are people we wish we could change but we cannot, and we must simply give them time. Time is a gift, that is for sure. So today, give yourself time, savour that special moment, learn in all your giving to give also to yourself.
Be a friend to your own dear heart too, for it will make you an even better friend to those around you.
So go and buy a packet of Rolo. Open the bottom end of the wrapper first, and give yourself the last one, then go and share the rest with those you love!
There comes a time, and this is yours….There is no remote for life, get up and change it yourself, but remember dear one, you’re not on your own!
(SIDE NOTE ~ Even though I wrote this a while ago (in 2009 actually) I somehow felt it may touch someone today who needs to read it!) It was early one February morning. I was on my way to work. I took a detour through the Westbury Mall (off Grafton Street)…Dublin city centre..=)
As I sipped my vanilla latte & searched my bag for the keys I needed…my eyes were distracted by a huge poster hanging on the lower half of a children’s clothing store in the Westbury Mall…Giving it only a quick glance I kept on walking, not giving the details of the big white poster with heavy bold writing on it much attention. But….As I kept walking I “felt” I should go back and read it, that there was something in it I needed to see – But I still kept walking to work…Eventually I stopped in my tracks, I could not ignore it, for some reason I had to walk all the way back to the shop to see why I was supposed to read this poster.
….BUT…….before I tell you what was written there…I must tell you of the thoughts that filled my head on my stroll from where I live to the city centre that morning….
I was thinking over & over about the future, about where God wants me? What shall I do next in my life?…and about many people in my life…Well to be honest I had myself all tied up in knots by the time I got to the Mall – thoughts were looming over me, fears of the future, the economy (although there is no recession in Heaven) and how will I provide for myself etc etc…I am sure you all get my drift.
All my questions seemed IMPOSSIBLE to answer for my heavy heart and tired mind! Then…..I walked back to read the poster that seemed to stop me in my tracks…this is what it said….(Keep in mind it was hanging on the door of a designer Children’s clothing boutique…)
~~~~~~~”There is no use trying,” said Alice.”One can’t believe for impossible things .”
“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” replied the Queen ,”when I was your age I always did it for half an hour a day. Why ,sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast !!”
(from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.) ~~~~~~~
WELL as you can imagine tears welled up in my eyes…I felt so reminded by a seemingly insignificant shop poster that the GOD of the Universe sees me – knows me and more than that HE wants me to believe for IMPOSSIBLE things – no matter how hard things ever seem with my limited vision – HE SEES ALL THINGS and with HIM all things are POSSIBLE – Suffice to say that before I even took another step from that door, I began to believe for impossible things…and all before breakfast!!!
If we would only take a few minutes to notice the seemingly insignificant things around us, God may actually be trying to use them to remind us of His truth!
“All things are possible to him that believes.” Mark 9 v23
(“,) with childlike faith…believe for the impossible! DREAM A BIG DREAM!!
It is never too late to start!
✟ღ◄♥*´¨`*♥*´¨`*♥♫ ♫ ♪
Denise
THIS IS A COPYRIGHTED ARTICLE & NOT TO BE COPIED OR SHARED….
Thanks! If it is used it will violate my future publishing rights to use it. Denise
Denise Kennedy❀ 