A Tiny Clue

“Usually there’s some kind of clue, whether it’s a rhythmic foundation or very abstract – just an emotional kind of landscape – and then you just kind of start someplace.” ~ David Sanborn


Yesterday it was my daughter’s birthday. For some time she had been wishing for a particular doll she had been seeing on TV commercials, but by the time the birthday date approached, she also asked for other things I thought she would enjoy more, so I doubted the doll was in the cards.

Two days ago, a nearby church was holding a large charity yard sale, so Morgan and I went, early in the morning. Since the sale was indoors and we knew most of the people there, I allowed her to walk around the tables alone carrying a small bag of money she had earned attending to small chores, while I looked through books. A short while later we went to pay for our purchases. I didn’t pay much attention to what she had picked up, and waited until the lady at the cash box gave Morgan her change before turning toward me to collect the things I was going to buy.

After we got home, Morgan pulled her treasures from the plastic bag – a purple, fuzzy handbag, a princess nightgown, and a small book. I looked at the book and saw that it was a small inspirational book entitled “Waiting for Baby”. I asked her why she had picked up such a book instead than one of the many children’s titles, and she replied that she didn’t know – she just liked the rabbit picture in the front. That same night, we read a little of the book at bedtime. It was indeed a delightful book about the joy a mother feels as she gets ready to welcome her long-awaited baby.

Yesterday morning she woke up early, ready to start celebrations. Knowing that within a few hours she would be celebrating with all her friends filled her with delight, and pumped quick silver into her veins. We ate breakfast and called everyone down so that she could open some of her gifts before we went to the party. Just looking at the pretty festive paper made her giggle, and she could hardly contain her excitement. She loved the gifts – an interactive cat her brothers bought for her, Play-dough toys and a DVD-player for her TV - but nothing prepared her for her next surprise, a beautiful pink box my parents sent to her from Italy.

She opened the bow and giggled as she ripped through the beautiful paper, until time stood still, and the doll of her dreams was only a few inches away from her stunned little face. She looked at the doll, then at me, and then, as if someone suddenly lit fireworks behind her eyes, she burst into a scream of uncontainable delight. She ran to the window and blew kisses into the sky to my parents, as if the wind could carry her love to them. Then, she came back to the table, picked up her baby, and ran to her room to find the book she had bought the day before. “See, Mom,” she said, “I really was waiting for a baby. She came today.”

We are often given clues of what’s to come. The trick is to pay attention and try to understand them as we journey along.

A Dollar A Day

“This is the beginning of a New Day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or grow in its light and be of service to others. But what I do with this day is important because I have exchanged a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever. I hope I will not regret the price I paid for it.” ~ Anonymous

Let’s imagine that at the beginning of our lives someone gave us a limited amount of money – a dollar bill for each day we are alive - and told us that we can use the sum we are given to buy joy, pain, anger or peace. Our purchase cannot be returned, and whatever we buy with it we have to keep. We know that if our money is invested properly it might earn us a few extra bucks, while if it is spent unwisely, our account will dry up prematurely due to the penalties we have to pay. With that type of awareness, how would you spend your daily dollar?

Research has repeatedly shown that people who live a simple and peaceful life have longer life spans, especially if they sweeten the deal with faith and service to others. Each time we smile to a stranger, indulge in an act of random kindness, or accept the rocks that life throws as an opportunity to learn how to catch and stay in shape, we have used our daily dollar wisely.

If, on the contrary, we invest our energy in a fight against life, and allow anger, greed and fear to absorb our time and minds, we have merely taken our daily dollar and left it outside to be swept away by the wind. No matter how upset we get once we realize our mistake, the dollar is gone. So, should we put the rest of our money down on the same table, and leave it to be swept away as well while we run around madly searching for the first bill? By doing so, all our money will soon be gone and no amount of regret or foot-stomping will bring it back.

The first dollars were taken away by a combination of an unmerciful wind and personal naiveté, but choosing to put the rest of our livelihood out to be dispersed by the same currents is self-destructive and irresponsible at best. Rather than wasting more dollars trying to rectify mistakes of the past, it would be best if we focused on not making the same mistakes again in the future.

Go out today, and use your daily dollar wisely. By the time the setting sun pulls a curtain on this day, you should feel that what you bought is worth the price you paid for it.

Money doesn’t grow on trees…life doesn’t either.