Simple Gifts

My love language is gifts. I adore gifts. My favorite holiday is Christmas. I’m like a little kid when I get a present. So, when I knew Nathan and the kids were leaving for 8 days, and I would be gone for 3 days before they left, I kinda secretly hoped I would come home to find Nathan had left a little gift for me. Silly, I know. 

What I found was a note on the kitchen counter that informed me an elderly lady from our church was in the hospital and could I please go get her dog and take care of it all week. Love you! OK. I’m a grown up, I can deal.

Later in the week, yesterday, I think, I wandered outside to weed the flowers in front of my house. I noticed my irises were blooming and I remembered before I left for the retreat that they looked really weedy.  Even Nathan had mentioned they needed to be weeded. So, I thought I’d get to that chore. When I got up front I was so surprised to find the entire front of the house had already been weeded! 

I have no idea if Nathan did it himself or if he had one of the kids do it, but I have a sneaking suspicion he did it, because it was done so thoroughly.  The point is, he thought of it and that was a big deal, because I know before he left he was massively stressed out and super busy.  And yet, he took the time to weed my irises.  I felt like he had just handed me a pretty little package all tied up with a ribbon. It said, “I love you,” all the way from Canada.

It’s not always the grand, extravagant gestures that mean the most.  Sometimes it’s the simple gifts; the ones where we have to give of ourselves and take time out of our busy schedules to say I love you to those who mean the most to us. I can’t wait til he gets home to say, “Thanks, I love you too!”