The Gift of Joy

I received an early Christmas present last week. It was one I really wanted. In fact, I wanted it so much that I went out and got it. But it wasn’t something I could buy for myself.
Okay, I confess, I have been known to wrap up presents and put them under the tree with my name on them. However, this particular gift isn’t offered in stores.
Each year at this time, Smith County Medical Alliance teams up with Discovery Science Place to host a party around a Sensory Tree.
What exactly is a Sensory Tree? Good question. It is a Christmas tree decorated with all the senses in mind.
Besides the usual twinkly lights and shining, colorful ornaments, there are also cinnamon sticks and doilies filled with potpourri for those who can smell, but cannot hear.
There are jingle bells and battery-powered, musical ornaments for those who can hear, but cannot see.
There are soft, fuzzy teddy bears and bristly pine cones to touch. A train toots as it circles the tree.
Musicians fill every room with holiday music.
The children fill the rooms with laughter.
Children lay on the floor to feel the vibrations of the fiddles or danced with their hands waving in the air.
Teachers and children sign their excitement, fingers fluttering.
Did you know the sign for the “shh” is just the one you would expect? Their teachers were use it a lot because it seems that hearing-impaired children are just as noisy as other children when they are having fun together.
Wheelchairs scoot up closely to instruments so little ones can touch.
Throughout the place, there is a spirit of joy that is not limited by physical realities.
While, it may not be the case with most of us, these special-needs kiddoes live a life that is measured in small joys, joys that are unrelated to physical circumstances.
For their parents and teachers, it is a practiced lifestyle. Their joy is a daily perspective that requires inner discipline.
So, if you think that it is the volunteers, bringing with them their talents and their gentle hearts, who are the source of all that joy, you would be only half correct.
The real story is the joy the volunteers receive by being there.
The gift of joy. Brought to the event and delivered by children whose physical challenges are balanced by a special gift only a Loving Father could design.
The gift of joy. Passed along by parents, siblings and teachers who are practiced in it.
Sometimes in life it is necessary to take the gifts we want. They are offered. It is up to us to receive them.

Checklist Charlie, aka Cathy Primer Krafve, lives in Flint with her family. Comments are invited at CaeKrafve2@aol.com.