Better Than Santa

Have you ever people-watched at an all-you-can-eat buffet? If you haven't, you should ... you'll be amazed at the fascinating things you can surmise about people by watching the way they fill their plates at a buffet. Though I rarely frequent those types of restaurants now that my diet is so restricted, I had reason to visit one a couple of weeks ago with some friends. As I sat there watching people stack their plates as high as they could, I found myself quite in wonderment ... though they could return to the buffet as often as they desired, some people obviously had an overwhelming desire to pile on as much food as the plate could hold (and then some). It was as if they were afraid that the mashed potatoes, buttery rolls or that green Jello marshmallowy stuff thrown on top for good measure would somehow disappear before they could make their way back to the food for a second (or third or fourth) trip. And I must admit ... in true open, honest, real and transparent fashion ... that sometimes my eyes well with tears when I drive past my favorite Chinese buffet and remember my own mile high plates from days gone by.

While I no longer consume the same amount of food as I previously did, I often continue to stack the plate of my life with as much as it can possibly hold. Some days, it seems that I race from one task or event to the next with little to no downtime in between. Wednesdays are those kinds of days ... I race home from work each Wednesday to feed my dogs, gulp down some dinner and head to the church to be a listener for the little kids who attend our Awana program. There were a couple of weeks between me agreeing to serve in that capacity and when the program started, and during that time, I chastised myself heartily for saying yes to the mid-week commitment.

The third week into serving as a listener, I discovered that rather than dreading Wednesdays, I was actually looking forward to the time I got to spend with the kiddos. Listening to them recite their Bible verses, seeing their little eyes light up as I high-five their hands when they are correct, talking to them about what the verses mean, hearing them shout my name when I walk into the room ... it's ... well, it's a true blessing to me each week. And as is so often the case, God taught me a valuable lesson last week through one of the little boys ... a lesson that has caused me to think and ponder and wonder and pray for days.

I wear two necklaces ... one is a beautiful and rather expensive diamond journey necklace given to me by my daughter, and it carries very deep and significant meaning for both of us. The other is a $20 medical ID dog tag with emergency information engraved on the back, and I keep it tucked inside my shirt. As I listened to the little boy say his verse for the week, he suddenly stopped and reached up and touched the chains around my neck and said, "I have a chain, too, but I don't have it on." He then asked what was on the end of the chain that was tucked into my shirt, and I pulled the tag out and showed it to him. He looked back and forth from the glistening diamond necklace to the cheap dog tag and without missing a beat, he reached out and touched the tag and said, "This one is so cooler than the shiny one."

It's been said that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but I think maybe instead that beauty is in the perspective of the beholder. How many times do I get so focused on the "shiny" stuff in life that I miss the true beauty of the simple? While my diamond necklace will always hold a special place in my heart because it was a gift from my daughter during a difficult time in our lives, my inexpensive dog tag could one day quite literally save my life. The little boy saw something with his little boy eyes and his little boy heart that I didn't ... he saw the beauty, the coolness, the importance in the simple.

So, here's to Wednesdays and the "so cooler" moments that God is showering upon me ... tonight, a little boy told me that I smelled better than Santa Claus. It just doesn't get any better than that ... not one bit better!