Labors Of Love

By wisdom a house is built,

and through understanding it is established;

through knowledge its rooms are filled

with rare and beautiful treasures.

~Proverbs 24:3-4~

I appreciate when someone takes the time to make something homemade as a gift.  It is so rare nowadays.....just like the word "nowadays", right?  We are all in a hurry...we have hundreds of things we want to do and time is precious....sometimes it actually does boil down to "time is money" because we have to decide how to spend it to make the most of it...but, I guess I appreciate the patience and the thoughtfulness it takes to make something homemade. 

Our lives are kind-of like that.....homemade.

Are they flawless? No, but they take time to build as we gain knowledge, understanding and wisdom through all our difficulties and flaws.  We have these rare, one of a kind, treasures from our struggles and victories and our love....they are amazing!

I was reading a little more about C.S. Lewis the other night.  After I used the quote about getting old enough to read fairy tales again I wondered which of his works that came from so I went digging.  I realized it was the dedication to his Goddaughter, Lucy, in the beginning of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe....can you imagine someone giving you that homemade gift?  Here's the dedication:

"My Dear Lucy,
        I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather,"

WOW, right?!  He couldn't possibly have known what life would hold for the real Lucy, but she struggled with MS and at the end she couldn't move or even feed herself.  I read, though, that as she lost her ability to function she became even stronger in her faith...she was an incredible witness to those who watched her journey.... and she would often ask people to read to her.  I bet you can guess which book she would choose over and over again :)