Two plastic flowers sit in a homemade vase on my desk – a sign of hope and light.
I was sitting on the couch this weekend organizing my week when I heard a little voice say “Mom, I made these for you.” Small hands held out two plastic flowers made of dozens of colorful disks carefully connected by their thin little grooves.
“Wow, honey, these are beautiful,” I said.
I wasn’t sure what to do with them though, these homemade flowers that were put together by toys he loved to also shape into swords and musical instruments and robot dinosaurs. So I took a photo and he left the room with them in hand.
Twenty minutes later he came back to me with the two flowers in a vase – a vase also carefully constructed out of tiny plastic colorful disks. My husband had suggested in his ear that he make momma a vase to hold her flowers, and so he did.
“I’m gonna put it on your desk so you can see it while you work,” he said.
This morning as I sit in the quiet at my desk and pack up for school, I’m once again struck by the beauty of his creation.
He took what he had – his imagination, the love in his heart, and a jar of colorful disks – and made an absolute treasure.
My prayer this morning is that we are given the grace to use what we know we have inside of us to make this day a treasure for ourselves and others. Let us put in the work so that the words we say and the actions we do be a sign of hope and light like two plastic flowers in a homemade vase.
