Allow me, please to preface this story with a brief history so you will better understand the mercy the Lord showed me in my life. I was born in England, a war baby. My mother, my brother and I traveled by ship to the US where we resided with him in Indiana. Another brother was born. My parents parted and my mother had to leave us with my father's parents so she could work to support us. Our father took us and hid us away in St. Vincent/Sarah Fisher Home for Children. We stayed there for years, never having even a visit from a relative. Most did not know of our whereabouts. Dad remarried and claimed to visit us every weekend and spend all of his money on my demands. When I met my new mother, I could not understand her dislike for me. I suffered many forms of abuse, which at the time grieved me to my very soul.
But my new mom's parents welcomed me. They embraced me as their own grandchild and loved me just because they did.
When I was eight, I was seriously burned and had always spent summers with gramma and grampa at the cabin on the lake. Having third-degree burns over much of my body, I stayed within the confines of the cabin, because the sun's warmth was torture to my burns.

So my story begins:

I had quietly watched my brothers and sister cavorting in the water, splashing, squealing, laughing. I read to pass the time. There were always books for me to read, thanks to my grandparents! I drew pictures for my grandparents, who accepted them lovingly. I watched gramma cook and bake from my perch that was far enough from the heat of the wood stove to be comfortable. Oh, the aromas that exuded from that kitchen were heaven to my senses. Grampa was a retired engineer. He worked the Soo Lines and always had stories to share with me, stories that had teaching for me, and stories that helped me see and admire the man I knew him to be. One evening after dinner I arose to help gramma clear the table and do dishes, which I always enjoyed. Gramma took the dishes from me; and grampa, who now stood beside me, announced that tonight there would be no dishes for me. He said, simply, "Come with me!" We walked outside together. No words were spoken. He escorted me to the dock and stopped. I stood beside him and realized that the torturous sun no longer burned me to my core. It was now a golden orb that nested above the treetops across the lake. He spoke again,"Go, sit, and watch. Its a gift!"

I sat at the end of the dock. The water became still and reflected in brilliant clarity the silent music that began in my soul. A turtle poked its head out of the water in quick check, and disappeared. Where it was, a circle formed, and circles pushed out circles until the face of the lake was covered and the rings, in peaceful turns touched the shore.

As the sun neared the tallest limbs of the trees I focused on, the sky seemed to blush. The hues were beautiful pastel banners that reached across the horizon. The closer the sun came to the trees, the more brilliant the colors became. Brilliant gold. Bold orange. Red! Purple! I felt the presence of Royalty! The symphony inside built to a crescendo as the sun touched the fingers of the pines and cast a path of gold across the lake to the dock and to me! My breath stopped as I took in the gift God gave to me that day. No sound seemed to dare interrupt! As the sun settled itself beyond the pines, I watched and thought about what I had been witness to.

The turtle's lesson seemed to be that the beauty was boundless, and that it would reach all who welcomed the ring's touch. The vision of the trees reaching up taught me that becoming a PART of the beauty offered, required me to reach up, give thanks, and be awed by the beauty of the gift. The water's reflection imitated the sun's activity, and invited me to join by merely imitating what my heart witnessed here. The colors of the sky became a royal banner of love which embraced me and moved my soul to blush at the perfect, unselfish, always-present gift offered to me.

I sat in the silence for the symphony had ended, but my heart remembered with awe, as it does today, and EVERY moment I spend recalling the wonderful gift I received from the Lord that day, thanks to His beloved, wonderful servants, my gramma and grampa!