We got a letter from one of our granddaughters yesterday, the only one who is big enough to write. It was a wonderful little letter from Maria, written inside a polar bear card, thanking us for the Christmas gifts. We’d sent each of the families a big box. Inside the box, along with the wooden casserole rack, were individual paper bags with fresh roasted peanuts and a plastic bag with a huge homemade cookie and one other small surprise.

Maria said that her oldest brother had salted his peanuts and roasted them some more before eating them. She ate some of hers and then decided they’d still taste good later and last a lot longer if she put them in the freezer. She also put that sharp little mind of hers to work on how to handle the slight shipping damage to the cookie.

Traveling from Kansas to Key West is bound to include a few jerks and jolts. Between transfer and turbulence, and all the other incidentals of commercial shipping, an oatmeal raisin walnut cranberry cookie is going to lose a detail or two along the way. So, Maria mixed some peanuts with the cookie crumbs and had herself a fine little snack. She said the ten-dollar bill really smelled good, too. She didn’t try to eat it, though; she’s saving that to buy a “shiny, very shiny red Mustang.”

Now folks, that’s possibility thinking there! That’s planning and purpose, determination and dedication.

A lot of people, and many of them a lot older than Maria but not much more mature, would think, “Sheesh, it’s just ten bucks. That’s nothing. I might as well go buy some candy or a couple of cheeseburgers, or go see a movie.” Which is fine, really, there are worse ways to spend Christmas money. They’d eat, burp and move on to the next disappointment of their lives. And go right on, always thinking life never gives them what they deserve and feeling sorry for themselves because they never have anything.

Instead, Maria has a plan, devotes what she has to the purpose and keeps moving in that direction. And, in an age that seems devoted to the neglect, if not deliberate destruction of courtesy, propriety and decency, took the time to write a wonderful letter thanking us for thinking of her.

Those who sense God’s blessing in the small things and gratefully steward their opportunities often find greater blessings come their way. We might just go ahead and double our contribution to Maria’s project. I’d love a ride in a shiny red Mustang in about ten years!

H. Arnett
2/10/15