The Best Gifts

Photo by Sally L. Smith

May the Lord bless his land...

with the best the sun brings forth...

with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness...

excerpts from Deuteronomy 33: 13-16 NIV

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

God gives the best gifts:

wild daisies, brought in by my grandsons that we keep outside on our deck so the ants don't visit the kitchen.

multiple blue bird families, enough to need two houses for them (my Mom's favorite bird)

tools and a shed/workshop for Bill; his health to do all that he does for us and many more people

a forest behind our house that brings us glimpses of wild creatures on a regular basis

a gravel road that winds its way to a pond, a grand two-mile walk that keeps me in the same sized jeans 

a place up the hill for a small garden that offered us delicious tomatoes, lettuce and green beans for the season

country air by just stepping out on the porch, along with the wasps, spiders and gnats...but who's counting?

a four-mile drive to our daughter's house and her husband and four children...a two hour drive to our other son's with his five children at home and two more within a 30 minute drive from us at college...a six-hour drive to another grandson in college, an hour away from our oldest son and his wife and remaining three children 

a church with wonderful people and young staff who are bringing in loads of young families who enjoy a blend style of worship...and who also provide an organist position for me 

the opportunity for Bill and me to teach our respective trumpet and piano lessons at a Community Music Center

working with pre-school music again at church

living near a city with a variety of musical activities to keep us highly entertained

so many gifts, and more I didn't mention.

Yes, God, the giver of the best gifts, has blessed us beyond what we deserve and it is to Him that I offer my praise.