Update On Lamby: Still Vacationing!

Sadly, the guesthouse we stayed at in France didn't reply to our email about lost Lamby. He'll have a good life in beautiful Nice but we'll miss him.

Thankfully Sebby wasn't too phased by the loss of Lamby & quickly became attached to Giraffe. The  thing that makes me smile when I get whacked with Giraffe in the mornings is the reminder of just how much God notices and takes care of us.  Only God would have known that Lamby would be lost a few days later and that we would be in need of a new "best friend" for Sebby. 

The Giraffe was "randomly" given to Sebby by a little girl on the playground in France. I was really struck by the whole scene. A little girl of about 6 was going around the park offering her old dolls and teddy bears to the younger kids to take home. What a generous sacrifice, yet no parent was allowing their children to accept the gift that the little girl was offering. I thought it was a very kind gesture as well as an important lesson in generosity for the little girl so I gladly allowed Sebby to choose Giraffe from among the stack of loved teddies she held out. 

 

It made me a bit sad that other parents were so closed to receiving the gift. Parents not allowing their children to accept a gift from another child on a playground reminds me of how so many people have that same attitude towards the Gift of eternal life that God so generously offers us. People are either too proud or too sceptical (or too whatever) to accept the gift and their choice also affects those around them, especially their children. The Gospel message is like that, to some people, it's weird, to others, it's too good to be true to others, it makes them feel weak because they would rather "do it on their own". When we overcome all of these barriers to accept the gift, we discover that we are in for an even better gift than we could have imagined.

Thinking back, I'm so glad I let Sebby take the Giraffe. Sebby has already "loved" Giraffe so much that one of his legs is becoming detached. Need to sew it back on before it comes off completely!

PS: Another benefit of having Giraffe is that he has a rattle inside so we can hear if Sebby is getting out of bed at night because of the noise  as Giraffe tags along with him to the door.