The Gift of the Squirrel

I am not a compulsive neat-nik; on the other hand, I get antsy if every flat surface in the house is under disarrayed piles of whatever I neglected to put away when I was no longer using them.  Today is the day I am sorting out the clutter.  In a pile on my desk, I have found a dried-up chestnut. I am reminded of the morning 5 (five) years ago when Dear Husband (dh) retrieved the chestnut from near the wheel of my car – a gift of the squirrel who thought it a safe spot to store his dinner. 
 
Let me take you back to another early morning 12 years ago.  A terrible scraping noise accompanied me as I backed my small car from the garage onto the street.  I pulled back into the driveway stopping to look under the car for the branch I was sure I would find lodged there.  Nothing.  I backed to the street again.  The noise was so scary I drove back into the drive and phoned dh for help.  He returned home, looked the car over and under, finding nothing.  At that point he gave me his car to take to work.  My car was towed to the local service garage.  The mechanic soon called dh to report one of the front coil springs had broken and was scraping the front tire.  A 40-mile trip at freeway speeds with a broken coil spring scraping the front tire was a recipe for certain disaster. Praise God I was spared!
 
Now you understand why I panicked 6 years later when I was unable to identify the source of a scraping noise from the front-end of my car.  DH investigated and this time found a chestnut stowed in the brake mechanism – a gift of the squirrel.
 
This is the season of gift giving.  It is the time to remember family and friends with gifts; and most importantly, the time to remember the dearest and best gift of all:  God’s gift of His Son to the world and to each of us, His gift we may not recognize.  Yet when we do, we are adopted into His family, forgiven our sins and receive eternal life with Him.
 John 1:9-14    ' The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.'
Merry Christmas!