Thank You Lord for Weeds

There were four of them, stair stepping in ages of three, five, seven and nine. They lived three houses over and behind us. Their mother home schooled them so they were always at home. She had taught them well in more ways than their school subjects. These precious little girls were kind, loving, caring, very smart, and they made me laugh. Whenever they saw my dog, Pogo, and me out in our backyard they would come running to see us. They might be in their pajamas, maybe a ballet outfit, or a princess dress, or maybe sporting Harry Potter glasses, and very often the youngest would have on a pair of bright yellow rubber boots that were two or three sizes too big for her. You never knew how they would be dressed. Life was an adventure and a wonder for them.

“Mr. Brady, how are you today? May we play with Pogo? How's Mrs. Brady.” Sherri was going through chemo treatments. The little girls knew she had cancer, and truly worried about her. They always asked about Sherri. They always questioned with great concern if she was going to be okay. I would sit down on the ground with them and we would talk. We talked about Sherri, Pogo, bugs, grass, trees and flowers. Sometimes we discussed the clouds, their different shapes, and sometimes they would tell me something about those clouds, about their science lessons, and amazing things about nature that I didn't know. I really enjoyed their visits, especially during the time when we were so concerned about Sherri's condition. Before they would leave to go home at least one of them would give me something. It might be a rock, a stick, but usually it was a flowering weed of some sort. They would have one for me and another one for Sherri.  “Give this one to Mrs. Brady. We hope she feels a lot better,” one of them would say.

I always thanked them and remarked how lovely their gift was. They would leave just as they had come, and I would take our bouquet of weeds inside to Sherri. We both appreciated the sweet gesture from our small neighbors. I would put that glorious bouquet of weeds in a glass of water because they were given in love and with great concern for my wife. They were presented as a token of beautiful love wrought from the world of the nature that those little girls loved. Yes they were weeds, things I didn't like to have in my yard, but we loved those little girls. Therefore those weeds became our treasures. They made Sherri smile. They made me happy because of the spirit in which they were given. How could something so detestable, and unwanted as weeds become such a source of joy? Because they were always a gift of love! For that Sherri and I were so very Thankful.