A Gift of Beauty

I received a beautifully wrapped gift

in the mail yesterday from

Kathleen Ellis.

I knew what was coming, as I won a give-away on her blog.

But it arrived in a much larger box than I was expecting,

and when I opened it this is what I found!

-The beautiful big bow was not squished or flattened,

but was wrapped so carefully that it came out of the box

looking like this. And even though I knew

the name of the book inside, I just had to hold the

lovely package and admire it for a while.

And of course took some photos!

-I savored the love and care put into this gift

from someone I have only 'met' by viewing her words

and photos on her blog ... and was so touched by

this exquisitely wrapped present.

Thank you Kathleen!

The book is called "Living Romantically Every Day"

by Barbara Taylor Bradford. I plan to savor each page with

a cup of tea and some quiet time.

You can see why I had to take a few photos

of this fabulous purple bow! The wrapping paper is

tone on tone white and beige, so elegant. Sigh.....

-And she wrote in a beautiful script a sweet note placed in

a parchment envelope, and included yet another gift,

a book of Bible promises called

"The Hope Chest"

that is filled with beautiful reminders

from God's Word, which by the way,

has purple edged pages!

I feel so pampered!

I am pondering this morning how a gift can be oh so much

more than a gift. Even the wrapping and the card can

be a part of the gifting! And to receive such an

unexpected gift from someone so dear who

I don't even know! This gift makes me want to know

her more! Kathleen, let's be friends! : )

-

The Bible says that God's kindness to us is what draws

us to Him. He gave us the gift of his dear Son

before we even knew him or cared.

And the beauty and grace that the Gift brought to us

makes us want to know Him more.

"What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us!"

"We love Him because He first loved us"

-Wow, Kathleen's gift to me has turned my heart this morning

to the amazing love of God.

He does that you know, uses people to remind us

how much He loves us and wants to be our friend --: -)