This morning I was thinking and praying as I walked on my way to work, and something a friend and I have been talking about a lot recently came to mind, the open hand - holding what God gives you with an open hand that receives with thanks, but kind of offers back too.
It made me think of little babies, especially around the age when they start to do that thing where they bring you random things or food and want you see or partake and to be as amazed and pleased with the thing as they are. Then they take it back. They they give it back to you again, over and over and over. The child isn't afraid that you'll take the thing or use it against them, but in their innocence, their desire to share overcomes their desire to possess, if even only for a few moments, because the sharing makes the possession more full.
Sometimes I observe things in nature and they make me think that God put them in, just so that we would know that what He is like. This is one of those, I think. It's as though he gave very young children this mannerism for the sole purpose of teaching us the kind of relationship he wants with us- not to fear, not to horde, not to cling tightly, but to engage with him and marvel over simple things...I remember doing this as a child, marveling over the thing I shared, but as an adult having this exchange, my memories feel more deeply joyful, though I was not marveling over the thing, but the child.
