Every Good and Perfect Gift
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above … especially on Christmas.
Christmas is a time for gifts. Family visits. Over-loaded tables and grumbling, overloaded bellies.
A time for caroling. Storytelling. Card writing.
And memories.
A favorite memory and a blessed gift coalesce in one precious creature: Missoula, our son Lane’s beloved Golden Retriever. May she rest in peace.
Lane found Missoula as a puppy while visiting his sister Lynn Lee in Missoula, Montana. It was love at first sight, and they never parted. The beautiful Golden entered Lane’s life as he was setting off for Auburn School of Veterinary Medicine in 1997. It was Lane’s first experience of living far from home, a trying time for anyone in their first year of veterinary medicine. But at least his sister Lynn Lee would soon join him with her own sights set on vet school the following year.
While Lane worked elsewhere as a welder’s helper and Lynn Lee as a vet tech, my husband and I located a nice mobile home for the two of them. We scoured through our belongings to supplement the furnishings that came with the house. My husband built a solid storage shed out back, all in anticipation of the three soon-to-arrive new residents: Lane, Lynn Lee, and Missoula.
As I look back on that house-settling time, I can’t separate my desire for a comfortable place for Lane and Lynn Lee from my thoughts of Missoula alongside Lane. They were that close.
She rode beside him in his Ford pickup. And sat close on the sofa.
She waited for him at the window. And curled up with him at night.
She rejoiced when he rejoiced and listened to Lane when he felt alone. And she gave him slobbering kisses when he was sad.
At Christmas time I often remember Missoula, God’s gift when Lane needed her special kind of love.
Missoula was a good and perfect gift straight from above.
Even now, Lord, I thank You for Missoula. I thank You for every good and perfect gift. Above all else, I thank You for Your Son Jesus.