The Elf

   I have a friend.  I believe she may be an elf.  Now, I’m not completely sure that elves do in fact exist, but if they do, then I know one.  This is what I know about her and this is what I know about elves.  1. Elves rarely sleep.  That’s why Santa’s winter wonderland is so beautifully decorated.  L rarely sleeps either.  I know this because her own version of “Santa’s winter wonderland” is so beautifully decorated.  That, and I’ve gotten texts from her as late at 11 pm and as early as 5 am.  Elves aren’t quick to catch on to things like the fact that “big” people do sleep.   2.  She likes to bake cookies.  So do those little Keebler guys.  I’m pretty sure there is a tree house in her back yard and it probably has an oven in it.  And 3.  Elves are tiny little people.  Tiny, tiny people.  L is abnormally tiny for an adult woman.  She has tiny little clothes and tiny little shoes. I think I saw a pair in her closet that were pointed.  Dead give away.

   L has a gift.  She can take something plain and dull and turn it into something beautiful.  And here in lies the story of my Christmas tree.  We all have our gifts and I know what mine are.  I also know what they aren’t.  I do not have the gift of tree trimming.  Part of the problem started many years ago with all those Norman Rockwell pictures.  You know the ones.  Those pictures painted unrealistic ideas in my head that over the years have ld to tree trimming disappointment.  Here’s how I thought things would go down…… Unrealistic - Mike, the kids and I would bundle up and go out in search of the perfect tree, chop it down and bring it home.  Reality – Mike and I drive to Lowes, I try to get him to act as if we are searching for the perfect tree (in the parking lot), I give up and say, “just grab one.”  Unrealistic – The four of us sing Christmas carols in the car as we drive home with the perfect tree.  Reality – The kids aren’t even with us, Mike is on a conference call and I just keep dreading getting all those decorations out of the attic when we get home.  Unrealistic – Mike and Michael get the tree up and the decorations out of the attic while Abbie and I prepare hot cocoa and warm cookies.  Reality – Mike and Michael put the tree up quickly so they can watch the ball game.  The whole time trying to convince me the tree is straight.  Ok, so you get the picture.  Not the Norman Rockwell picture, but the reality picture.  Every year I end up decorating the tree by myself, and that would be ok if I enjoyed it, but I do not.  So this year, I decided things would be different.  I bought an artificial tree, some new decorations, new ribbon (all based on the advice of L) and began my project of tree trimming, and all with my new Christmas cheer attitude.  I strung lights, and more lights.  I hung ornaments.  I even put these little stick things throughout the tree, just like on L’s trees.  I stepped back to admire my handiwork.  Whoa, Nellie. What the heck are all those sticks sticking out of the tree?  And how come all the red balls are on one side and the green ones on the other?  And is that tree straight?  It was time to admit defeat and call in an expert.  So this morning L came over and “fixed” my plain, dull tree.  You should see it now.  It is BEAUTIFUL!!!  And then she “fixed” my mantle (although sadly I didn’t even realize it looked bad).  BEAU-TI-FUL I tell you.  Beautiful!

   Today as L and I were talking I was commenting about what an amazing gift God had given her.  My beautiful tree and mantle are bringing me joy.  Through L’s gift, I am blessed.  She laughingly said how her family probably wished she had my gift of cooking so there would be dinner on the table instead of a decorated tree.  As we laughed and joked about our “talents” it reminded me of something a friend said to me recently that really struck a chord with me.  He and his wife were at our house eating dinner.   He said something about the meal and I jokingly said that I wished God had given me the talent of being able to do brain surgery or something big like that but instead I got the talent of cooking.   As we laughed, my friend said, “You know Pam, if you had the talent of being a fabulous brain surgeon, that would not have blessed me one single bit, but your food has blessed me and my family many, many times.”  I can’t tell you how many times I have thought about what he said that evening.  We all have some gift or talent that God has blessed us with. Some are “big” and some are seemingly small.  Some require many years of education and studying and some just come natural.  But it doesn’t matter to God what you are good at, it matters to God how you use what he gave you.  So L and I decided this morning to be grateful for our small, simple talents and be proud of the fact that those were the ones God designed for each of us to use to bring joy to others and glory to Him. I think Erma Bombeck said it best when she said, ”When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me.”  My friends, use what God gave you.  It’s a gift.  You never know what kind of joy you may bring to others by sharing your talents with them.