heart smiles

Some things just make my heart smile. A few nights ago, I wasn't smiling. In fact I was crying. I had been working for about 9 hours and was getting pretty tired. I was also listening to some of my music and it was making me very homesick. I'm often amazed at how we associate songs with people and places—REM's "Night Swimming" has me driving through Blue Ridge, Georgia, going home to see Daddy on a perfect fall day. Jack Johnson takes me back to February when, again, I was home with Daddy before he died. But the other night, it was Bob Seger and me and my brother, Mark driving along back roads in my little red Acura that sent me over the edge.

So I decided that I needed new music. The problem is that I don't have a radio; I only have what I can play on my little computer. But then I remembered that I can access radio over the internet, so I started looking for a staion. I landed on "Folk Alley" and the guy was talking about Doc Watson, who is from Deep Gap, NC—very close to my hometown. Then he played Doc's version of "Tennessee Stud" and I could totally picture Daddy's face the last time he sang that to me. You would think that that would have made me sink even lower; but in my memory, there was such a smile on Daddy's face as he sang it that I couldn't help but smile the whole time. So God gives us joy in the midst—Psalm 126:5 says, "Those who sow in tears will reap in joy." It's so true.

And God in His faithfulness gave me more heart smiles last night. Racheli had invited me to her home to experience Hanukkah with her family, and I spent a while earlier in the day painting a card for them (which is always fun). She and Dikla picked me up around 6:30 and instead of going straight there, they drove me down the Hebron road (which is the way to Bethlehem) to show me Christmas lights! It was beautiful—the street lights had a big star over a tiny outline of Bethlehem and white lights were strung from pole to pole. Even more beautiful was the view off to the west over the valleys of Jerusalem where a million lights twinkled over the hills as if God had decorated His own tree just for me. It was so thoughtful of them to take me without me even asking.

When we got to their home we were greeted by two huge, furry, very friendly dogs, a white Samoyed and her "pup" who's father was a Siberian Husky. She had one blue eye and one brown eye and seemed to be winking at me throughout the evening. I was also greeted with big hugs and kisses from Racheli's mom which was so sweet (everybody needs a "mom" hug now and then). They welcomed me to the "zoo"... in addition to the two dogs, there were two cats and a LOT of birds. There must have been 8 or 9 bird cages with varying breeds, some big, some tiny, one who kept throwing bits of apple at me, some with the most vivid colors of green and orange that I have ever seen; one that would dance and say "thank you"....

Then her dad read the story of the miracle of the oil (in Hebrew of course) and lit the Hanukkah candles and we all sat down at the big table to have dinner—cous cous with soup and salad, then the traditional doughnuts (a store-bought version and a home-made version, which was better by far!), oh, and fresh strawberries! Yum! Then we sat in the "salon" (living room) and looked at pictures of trips to Canada and America and had coffee and laughed a lot, all the while, the big Samoyed stayed by my side—well, until she decided to lay down on my feet and started snoring until my legs went fairly numb.... I really wanted to take her home with me.

I wish I would have had my video camera; it felt so good to be at the table with such an animated family. I couldn't understand most of what they were saying, but it didn't matter. I was lost in the warmth; warmth of family love and a big, white furry dog. It was also fun when I realized that I knew the Hebrew words for all the animals present as well—dog is kelev, cat is hatule and bird is tsepor (all are my phonetic spellings, which are probably way off). They all get so excited when I manage to get out one tiny word in Hebrew—they don't make fun of my accent at all and it's so encouraging!

So I guess that the lesson of the day (or week) is that you just have to open your eyes and choose to see the blessings God puts all around you. They're always there—waiting to give our hearts a big smile.