A tiny gift

I was taking out the garbage this morning and heard an exquisite tiny pattering, tik tik tik tik tik all around.

I knew we were due for snow, but I couldn't see a flake. The air was fresh and cool and, as far as I could see, completely clear.

But the tik tik tik-a-tik continued pattering.

It was hail so tiny I could not see it. It was dancing on the crisp, coppery leaves that the wind had blown up in a heap in the corner of our yard, and it sounded like delicate, eager drums.

'The snow will come,' it promised, 'tik-a-tik tik.'

And soon, the snow came. Soft, swirling flakes that swished silently down, and the lacy drumming was over.

I was so glad I'd heard it: a little gift in a saddish and ordinary day.

May we have ears to hear and eyes to see and hands to touch and tongues to taste and noses to smell the gifts of God. 

Merry Christmas, friends. xo.