Cherished Grace

Our spring has been fickle this year. I suppose she's fickle every year although I tend to forget her teasing ways... sunny and warm one day, damp and cold the next. My little world is painted with bright green and flowers. The hummingbirds have returned, we watch them from the living room window, and our little patch of woods is alive with birds. I walked there the other day. The dogwoods in bloom always remind me of white eyelet petticoats. "If I get married in the summer," I used to say, "my wedding dress will be made of white eyelet lace." I love eyelet. The cherry trees are in bloom, all rosy pink, and the woodland phlox spilling color over our little garden rock walls makes me smile.
It's Saturday afternoon, I tell Sister, "We're going to a baby shower." As I put her shoes on her she says, "I will watch the babies take a shower." She makes me smile, and so does Little Brother who wants to come for the cake. He has a sweet tooth.
We go to the baby shower. The expectant mother is from Cameroon, and her life, I know it's not easy. She works hard in a country far from home while her husband is in school out of state. We celebrate the baby girl she carries in her womb; one whom I think she's waited for longer than I've been a mother. She cherishes each flowered dress, each pink blanket, and each tiny sock with such genuine, overflowing delight. And, she cherishes each giver with deep appreciation.
I watch her lift holy hands in worship on Sunday morning. It's easy to see... she recognizes God's grace in her less than easy life, and she cherishes it, and she cherishes the Giver. And shouldn't they be cherished? Cherished grace is grace savored, cherished grace is grace worth extending, and most importantly, cherished grace commands a worshipful response to the gracious Giver. 
At the baby shower I ask her, "Does your baby girl have a name?" She flashes a big, sparkly smile at me. "Yes," she replies in her beautiful French accent, "her name is Cherish." My heart melts. What name could be more fitting? She is experiencing His grace and she cherishes it, and she cherishes Him who gives it.