Untie the Ribbons

 "Each day comes bearing gifts.  
Untie the ribbons..."
- Ann Ruth Schabacker

Yesterday came bearing the gifts of free time, family time, game time, home time and time to just look at the little faces I love the most and watch who they are at this very moment.  With Scott at the Utah game with Golda and Ruby and the Dopp clan, I took a bunch of kids to the annual Kaysville Tabernacle nativity celebration.  Hundreds of nativity scenes from all over the world are displayed, there is music being performed in the chapel, and the kids have plenty to keep them busy with coloring, puzzles and a nativity scavenger hunt where they try to find certain pieces among all the thousands, according to a page of clues.  All of this quiet activity left me time to reflect as I perused the nativities, and what I thought about most was the gift to our community that the nativity celebration is.  The women who organize it are remarkable.  As I looked at each little manger scene, each little Jesus cradled by each little Mary, I thought how universal a mother's love for her child is, and how common to all women is this instinct to provide and care for not only their offspring, but the world around them.

A friend of mine saw the picture of our Thanksgiving tables set up the night before and he commented, "I've never been that organized about anything, ever."  I replied to my friend, "This isn't organization, this is instinct.  I'm a seventh generation Mormon girl!"  Feeding people and organizing meals isn't unique to the Mormon culture, but wow, am I ever grateful that I come from a tradition that values the inherent gifts that women want to give, and instills not only the skills, but the desire, to use those gifts to uplift and nourish.  And I am forever thankful I have family and friends to love, and children to nurture.

And yet, yesterday also came with another gift.  After the day's activities had settled down and we were all at home, going over the many possibilities for the night, a solo trip to the Ranch came up.  I wanted to be with my family, but I saw this opportunity as the gift that it was, an offering to me to nourish myself.  So I took it.  I went to a museum, grabbed some food, strolled along Main Street, read two books by the fire, ate chocolate.  As great as it was to have that time, it made me very grateful that I was needed at home at the end of it, to make a salad and dress a little boy and brush a little girl's hair and feed a baby and go over goals with a teenager.

I'll never understand why I have this abundance of blessings, while others don't, and I can't say that it is at all fair.  That's why, when each day comes bearing my particular gifts, I will untie the ribbons deliberately and savor the treasures I've been given.  I'll understand that I couldn't begin to be worthy of these gifts, and I'll try to act with according humility and gratitude.