Gift of the Cleaning Woman

A cleaning woman where I worked once gave me a glass-blown single-stemmed flower that had the edge of one petal broken off.  I thought it was beautiful and kept it on my desk until I retired.  I still have that flower, and whenever I see it, it reminds me of her love and friendship, and of the joy with which she gave me her present.  I knew she thought it was beautiful also, and it spoke volumes of her love for me.

What we offer God is like that flawed flower--broken, maybe fished out of the trash (worthless in the eyes of the world).  But if we think it is beautiful, in His eyes, it is eternally beautiful.  A classic book for children, The Littlest Angel, tells of a newly-arrived-in-heaven small boy who missed the box of treasures hidden under his bed back home--a box containing a butterfly, a frog and his baseball glove, among other treasures of earth.  He asks the head angel if he might have that box, and his wish is granted. 

When it comes time for the birth of Jesus on earth, all the angelic choir prepare their best gifts for the celebration.  The littlest angel shyly offers his box of treasures to the new-born Child.  Of all the gifts of heaven, it is his gift alone that is chosen to be illumined forever as the Star of Bethlehem.

That book is a charming tale, but once a small boy on earth actually offered to Jesus a basket containing two fish and five loaves, and his small gift fed 5000 men, women, and children.  There is, in truth, no telling what God will do with our very small gifts, broken, gifts to Him.