Precious in His sight

Gabriel, when you came home, there was a sober look in your eyes. Daddy had brought you with him when he went to visit a dear lady in the hospital, a woman you don't know well but whose face you recognized. You talked about how she tried to look at you, about singing songs with Daddy and for her.

You were also quiet.

But I could tell it wasn't an absent quiet. No, it was a focused quiet. I could see in your eyes how your mind tried to wrap itself around tragedy befalling a woman before old age has even had a chance to set in.

I could see in your eyes that you wanted to do something for her.

You sat down at the table. You wrote and drew and double-checked spelling with me. For hours and hours, you worked tirelessly. I asked you if you needed to take a break and you reassured me that time was of the essence, that you could rest when it was done.

I love all your artistic expression, Gabriel: drumming, coloring, cutting and pasting, imagining. But this... this amazed me. You spent your entire day on this mission, never once complaining or paying less attention to detail. The colors, the story, and the characters spilled out of you: Love on a page.

When Daddy and I told you how wonderful the story was and how much it would bless Linda when Daddy would bring it to her the next night, you insisted that you be the one to bring it, that you be the one to read it to her.

And so you did.

Daddy told me how you stood on the chair by her bed so you would be tall enough for her to see your face. She looked at you as you read the first few pages, and then she closed her eyes. Her strength is being drained from her, her body is failing.

I don't know how much of the story Linda understands as it's read to her throughout the days, or if she even remembers who you are, but it isn't the mind that speaks compassion anyway-- it's the heart. Your heart has touched her heart. I am sure of this.

We haven't told you all the details of Linda's tragedy. My heart has been too broken to know how to share such sadness with you.

But I thank you, my tender and precious boy, for bringing a glimmer of Light into these dark days. I see in you the purest kindness, the sort that only comes from Jesus.

You showed Love to the least of them, Gabriel; and you showed Love to Him.