Sweet Love of a brother....

Most of the time my kids get a long...but any parent knows that sibling arguments are not to be avoided....it is just part of life in a family.

But today...my son made my heart flutter with his love for his sister. My eyes get a little misty just thinking of this moment....read on....

At Madie's middle school last week the PTA was selling chocolate roses. You could buy one for someone else for $1.50. If you bought one, you wrote a quick message on it and during the last period of the day they were delivered. Madie didn't get one. One day last week, she came home and said, "Schools sure know how to make someone feel bad". And this is how I found out she didn't get one, but many of her friends did. She wanted one so much. I encouraged her to be a giver and take the focus off of receiving. I tried to comfort her but in her heart she really wanted just one chocolate rose. I knew it meant a lot to her, because every day she mentioned it.

The end of the week came and she still didn't get one.

Today I ran in the local drug store to grab a Sunday paper after church...my weekly ritual. Usually the kids stay in the car and I run in quickly and get it. But today Jack wanted to come in with me. We were getting in line, but decided to peek in the Valentine's aisle to see if any good candy was on sale. And I saw Jack pick up a Dove chocolate rose. He didn't say anything, but just held it in his hand looking at it. Then he told me he wanted to get it for Madie. My heart melted....he had heard her and knew how sad she was that she didn't get one. So we got it and hid it in a bag. When we got home, he snuck in her room and put it on her bed.

When she noticed it and I told her that it was from Jack...and that he picked it out by himself...she said "this one is way better than the ones at school". So sweet.

I told her that God blessed her with a better chocolate rose because she waited for it...she didn't get the one she thought she wanted because God had something better in mind for her.

Oh...I love how God works. How often do we think the thing in front of us is what we need or have to have, but later find out that God had something way better for us? He has such great plans for us...He wants us to wait for Him. He wants us to trust Him to give us the things we need...because really only He knows what they are. I have cried over things that I wanted only to find out later that God had a different plan for me in that area.

I am sure Madie still would have loved a chocolate rose from her friends or maybe even a middle school boy that she has her eye on...but her sweet brother stood in the place of those kids and showed her that her family loves her, that God loves her, and that she is valuable.

Sweet love of a brother....

Blessings, Teresa