Lessons in Loving

I have been keeping my commitment to savor time instead of squandering it. Tonight was valentine night. Instead of brownies, we made cookies, but otherwise, things went according to plan. I find that each time I really slow down and listen, my daughter has something to teach me. Tonight's lessons were on how to show love. Let me tell you about them.
Each year we make valentine's for Sloane's classmates and the other special people in her life. No tiny, store-bought, fold-up cards for us. There is just something special, meaningful, about creating with a particular someone in mind. Fitting a person to a pack containing five similar choices is just not the same.
This year I bought 30 foam hearts from WalMart and a glitzy pack of stick-on hearts and flowers. We got out the Sharpies and went to work. Sloane is enough like me that I sometimes wonder if she isn't a born teacher. She gets busy creating and likes to tell me why she does things in a particular way. She was busy writing her name onto the back of one valentine when she said this, "Have you been wondering why I write my name so tiny and theirs so big? Well, it's because this is not about me. It's about them." She's seven. And, she's not through.
We kept talking and crafting. Then, "Momma, do you know why I am making every valentine different? Because it makes people feel special to know you noticed things about them. Like how I made Evann's about sports and Briana's about coloring. They will know I paid attention to them. That always make people feel good."
God gives us days when we know that everything we are doing is exactly what we should be doing. Days when we feel humbled and elated at the same time. Days when there is nothing else on Earth you would rather do than play with a little girl, glitter, foam, and Sharpies. Life is sweet.

Happy "Valentime's Day", dear ones.