Singing to the Trees

~~I pull into the school parking lot on a breezy, warm afternoon in Spring.
I'm early so I park, roll down the windows and grab my book to wait for the ending bell.
The parking lot faces the playground and through the chain-length fence I watch pre-schoolers,
running around in pure, unbridled joy.
*Little girls with pigtails flying, skirts blowing in the wind.
*Little boys in cowboy boots and shorts, happily involved in a game of tag.
I watch them and I smile.
Such joy!

~~With my windows down I hear a little sing-song voice and then I notice her;
a girl, standing near the fence under the Bradford pear trees in full bloom.
She is raising her small fingers up towards the sky and singing!
Singing to the flowers.
~~And there it is; the secret to the joy.

~~As you know I've been reading the book One Thousand Gifts. Re-reading actually.
In the book Ann shares how she discovered that the secret to joy is in thankfulness,
eucharisteo,
couting God's blessings all around us.

~~And there on the playground I see that the joy is so easy when we are young.
The curiosity of children is a natural expression of thankfulness.
They see. They marvel. They linger.
Maybe that's why Jesus told us to be like little children.

~~As I drive away from the school yard my heart sings its own song, not to the trees,
but to the maker of the trees.

 to the One who shows us His love in a multitude of ways,
including Spring flowers 
and little girls.