The longer I live the more I see that our souls’ eyes and
the world’s eyes aren’t the same. Just today, for instance, I was sitting at my
kitchen table when suddenly my soul’s memories took me back 13 years in an
instant. I remembered sitting at that same table getting out a needle and thread
to sew a rip in my jacket. It was one of many gotten from years of working in a
lumber mill. That day, however, was my day off and I was enjoying every moment
of it with my kids.
Suddenly my toddler climbed on my knee for a game of "blow on my belly". His
giggles tickled my soul but his arm also accidentally knocked off my glasses,
breaking the frames for the hundredth time that year. At that time money was
tight, miracle glue was cheap, and new glasses were not. I put my son down then,
glued and reset the frames, and set them on the table to dry. Sewing the jacket
without my glasses, though, was no easy task. On my thirtieth try at threading
the needle my little daughter came in the room. I asked her if she could put the
thread through the eye for me. She did on the first try and handed it back to me
with a smile. "There you go, Daddy!", she said with sparkling eyes before
heading back to her room to play.
I often wondered back then why I was having to struggle so hard just to get by.
I wondered why I didn’t have the money to buy the new clothes and glasses that
others took for granted. Now thirteen years later I think that maybe God was
having my soul spend that time learning what the true riches in life really are.
That giggling toddler in my arms was one of them. That loving daughter with the
sparkling eyes was another. Compared to them all the money in the world was just
worthless paper. Nowadays money doesn’t seem quite so important, but every
loving hug I get from one of my children remains priceless. These lessons in
love sometimes take a lifetime to learn, but what’s a lifetime when seen from
the eternal eyes of your soul.
Joseph J. Mazzella joecool@wirefire.com
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
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