Good Gifts

This morning as I was driving to visit Dad, I was blown away by our magnificent mountains. With all the snow we've had, they are dazzling, and I accepted with gratitude the gift of so much beauty. God still reminds me daily how much beauty there is in the world.

I was prepared for that to be my only gift today, my reminder of love and God's presence. But I had more in store for me. When I walked into Dad's room, his eyes were open and he was very alert (sometimes his eyes are open but he's not really present). I told him how good he looked (and boy did he) and how much I love him. Then I gave his right hand a big squeeze. And he squeezed it back! I said, "Was that random, or did you just squeeze my hand?!" He squeezed it again. And several more times during my visit. But wait, there's more. One of the cleaning staff came in to mop the floor, so I scooted over to Dad's left side to get out of her way. I picked up Dad's left hand and held it. This is the hand on his broken arm and the last time I saw him move it was when the physical therapist asked him to last week. That day, he'd had to work so hard (you could almost see him willing his hand to move), scrunching up his shoulder and at last giving a light squeeze. And that was the first and last time I saw him use that hand. Well, half joking I said, "I don't suppose you could give me a squeeze with this hand." Squeeze. Seriously!

Seems like every time we have a tough day where the doctors are particularly pushing Dad's "poor prognosis" he rallies and shows us all what he's made of. Dad's dear friend and our church's district superintendent, the faithful Pastor Rich was down to see him yesterday and called Dad a warrior. You all know that usually means Dad is fighting on behalf of someone else, which is one of the reasons we love him, and that's no less true now. I'm sure Dad wouldn't be fighting right now if he weren't fighting for us.

Dad and I had a great visit. (Even though when I went to leave I tried to give him a big hug and popped the air tube off his BiPAP mask. Oops!) Today was a day of good gifts and on the way home my heart was singing All Good Gifts from the musical Godspell.

We thank thee then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seedtime and the harvest, our life, our health, our food.
No gifts have we to offer for all Thy love imparts
But that which Thou desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.

All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above
So thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord for all His love.

I said the other day I wanted to ride the good waves for all they're worth. Today I'm hangin' ten.