Tiny Treasures

I love my son dearly, and he is now at the stage where he can manipulate his world in a way he never could before.  He can grab and run with things long before Tiff or I know he has them at times.  And when he decides to put something somewhere, you are never quite sure where it will end up.  There is a remote that he hid ages ago that we have no idea where it is.  But on principle I won't buy another one.  

That being said, he is now in the habit of moving small things and hiding them places.  So you check your shoes for cars, trains, nuts, locks, or whatever small thing he has found and decided that a left shoe is the perfect safe for its keeping.  He favors Tiff right now, so she tends to get more of the tiny treasures.  I will admit it would be easy to find one and get angry, doesn't he know that is not where a toy car goes?  It also helps that as far as I know, neither one of us has been hurt, so that might change the equation drastically.  

I will more readily admit that when I checked my University of Texas Crocs (they may be ugly as sin, but I get to walk on a cloud all day) and found a little pad lock that had been placed in the heel, my heart melted.  You see, Tiff and Thomas left Christmas Day to see her sister who had just had her third son.  It will be January 10th before I see them again.  I left before they got back.  But I found this little lock  around January 1st or 2nd.  Something smaller than my thumb, gleaming out of the shadows of this horrendous footwear had warmed my heart.  I will not begin to try to say why it was there, but I know immediately it made me think of my son, and the love I have for him.  It also made me think of the love he has for me.  It has made me smile more than the remembrances of phone calls we have had.  I think because it was unexpected.  It is easy to call and expect to hear his voice.  It is also easy to call and be told, "He does not want to talk to you today." by Tiffany.  The latter is saddening to the Nth degree.  But the unexpected.  It changed what was to be.

I could have just shaken my shoe without looking at it, and been on my way without looking at the ground.  I could have quickly bemoaned my son due to his carelessness with other people's stuff.  I could have called him and asked why he put it there.  But I did not.  I took time to think of him, and his love, and my love.  That was a much better thing to do.  

It also made me think of how to show up unexpectedly in the lives of others.  How can I show a glimmer of light in their ugly shoe that they only wear when they need to feel comfort?  How can I be a remembrance of something wonderful even when so far away?  How can I use mundane things for amazing purposes?

It also made me wonder, how often do others try to show up in my life, and I am too busy to be concerned about it.  How often have I shaken my shoes, scared their was a bug and missed the moment?  How often has than other person been God tempting me to a new understanding?