Almost two years ago our women’s group from church had an outing during the Christmas season to a beautiful historic home.  The small gift shop there had some unique treasures and gift items.  While I wandered through the shop, I saw a beautiful little Christmas tree in a curio cabinet.  It was very elegantly decorated, bright and shiny.  The size of the tree was a large part of my fascination with it.  It was about two and a half inches tall at the tip of the star on top and about the same at its widest point.  Perfectly adorable!

One of our precious ladies was in the shop at the same time and she noticed how intrigued I was with this tree.  We enjoyed the remainder of our visit and headed off to lunch.  It was a wonderful day of fellowship with some very special ladies.

The next day at church one of the ladies gave me a gift for my recent retirement from my full-time job of more than 32 years.  It was later that evening before I had the chance to open the gift.  I was amazed and touched to the point of tears when I saw it.  There was that beautiful tiny Christmas tree!   That precious lady had bought that tree for me!  I called her immediately, still in tears, to thank her.

That tiny treasure has sat on a table in my living room ever since that day.  So often I admire its beauty.  Yes, I enjoy the shiny elegance, but the greatest beauty is the incredible thoughtfulness and love that it represents.

Let’s keep our eyes open for opportunities to do thoughtful deeds for others.  This will help us all to live . . . life to the fullest.