Tiny Love Gifts

I love Trader Joe's Chocolate-covered Almonds with Sea Salt. The combination of salty and sweet is heavenly. Until recently, the closest Trader Joe's was too far away for regular shopping trips, so I didn't enjoy them often.

Last Mother's Day, my daughter surprised me with a box of the luscious confections. She remembered how much I raved about them when I visited her in Washington, DC, and found them at her favorite grocery store. She made a mental note, and when she knew she was coming home to visit, drove all the way to Alexandria to get them.

She did a similar thing a few years ago for my birthday. I'm a transplanted Yankee, and often long for some of the flowers I grew up with.  My olfactory memory reminisces about burying my face in lilac bushes and gluttonously consuming the scent of them.

Peonies hold a similar place in my heart (and nose). On our homestead in Rhode Island, my grandmother raised fluffy white peonies tipped with pink. Every year we knew it was spring when a bunch of them appeared on our dining room table. Although we can grow peonies in Columbia, the most scent-rich ones don't seem to thrive south of the Mason Dixon.

One year Kristen placed a special order at a pricy florist for three luscious, scented peonies. She presented them to me on my birthday, and I was in heaven.

In both of these scenarios, the gifts were wonderful. What was even more special, though, was that my daughter noticed what I enjoyed and expended considerable effort to get it for me.

Oswald Chambers, in his book My Utmost for His Highest, writes, "The things that make God dear to us are not so much His great big blessings as the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us; He knows every detail about our individual lives."

When was the last time God presented a tiny love gift to you? I'm convinced he does it all the time, but we're usually too busy to notice. Like my daughter's chocolate covered almonds and sweet-scented peonies, he sends special gifts our way to remind us how well he knows and loves us.

Will you join me today in asking God to give us eyes to see that "every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father of lights?" (James 1:17) And let's be sure to thank him.

I invite you to join in the conversation. Leave a comment below and tell us about one of the tiny blessings God sent your way. I'd love to hear about it!

Lori Hatcher is the author of the blog, Hungry for God; Starving for Time, where she provides twice-weekly doses of spiritual nutrition for busy people. Like a spiritual power bar, Lori's devotions will nourish your soul when you don't have time for a spiritual meal. To subscribe, click here.






Did you know that Lori has a devotional book for homeschooling moms called Joy in the Journey?

With a devotional for every week of the school year, JITJ has application questions, an action step, and a prayer. It's suitable for your own devotional reading or for use by a support group for meeting ideas.

  No school year is complete without it!

For more information and to read what other homeschooling moms are saying about Joy in the Journey, click here. 

To order a paperback copy, click here.