Christmas and the spirit of giving

Last night, my choir had its second of two performances. It went swimmingly. It was wonderful. The choir surprised me with a bunch of flowers. It's a really lovely arrangement, full of lilies and roses.

I went to pack up my things from the kids' play room, and what did I find there but a kid, playing. She was all, "look at me!" and jumping on a beanbag chair. We chatted a little while about how cool it is to jump on a beanbag chair. I went to move my flowers, and she was immediately next to me with two questions. Why do you have flowers? and Can I have one?

I knew in that moment that I was within my rights to say "no," and gently say an age-appropriate thing about respecting other peoples' stuff, but... there was another thought in my mind. What am I gonna do with these flowers? Put them in a vase in my house. And they'll be pretty for awhile, and then they'll wither up. And they'll die, and I'll put them in the compost.

So I gave her a rose. Because, what the heck. I had like four, and she only wanted one. I carefully extracted a rose and checked it for thorns, and off she went to show everyone.

This story is just a small and happy reminder that love is a flower that becomes even more beautiful when shared. I was given a bouquet, which was happy for me; I gave away a rose, which spread the joy two ways. The rest of the night, she walked around with that rose and didn't let it go even once. She walked out the door still holding it.


Choir flowers :) on Twitpic

Merry Christmas, and I hope that a blessing comes your way by way of blessing someone else. It is a great thing. :)