fragile...please handle with care

Hold out your hands...and accept this...
It is fragile, please handle with care.

What could it be - this fragile gift?


My first thought is the little blue eggs - shell fragments I find in the yard each summer - new babies in a nest so high.  I think of those little ones  - surviving wind, rain, crows & jays.   And they make it -- and then journey so far to return each spring and begin again.

Fragile begets Strength.

I think of the ornaments - German made I unwrap each December.  They traveled to Wisconsin, some with my great grandparents.  I find these at antique shops, at thrift sales -- and gather them.  Somehow they have survived, to be honored each year.

Fragile begets Dignity.

I think of the people I have met -- those that have traveled through hard times.  Those that do not define themselves as a cup half empty --- but rather always at least half full.  Those that accept food from a line, coats - second hand but warm.  Those that would take your hand if you offered it.

Fragile begets Resilience.

I think of the animals that toil thru the cold, that dig for grass in the snow...that know warmth only when in season.  That don't complain, but accept the grace of a stranger, seed from a feeder, corn left to find, apples fallen from a tree and left for them.

Fragile begets Perseverance.

When burdens seem too heavy, when suffering seems too large -- when all feels fragile -- I reach out my hands and ask for Wisdom from the past, from the woods, from the least likely place....and tonight, in a humble barn, a stable of sorts, it found me. 

Fragile begets hope. 

May the promise of Christmas find you.  Hold out your hands, but please handle with care.

Merry Christmas!
Kari