When Hannah was less than five years old she got a hold of one of my Bibles and made marks in it that looked like scribbling. I said, “Hannah, why did you scribble in my Bible?”
She said, “I didn’t scribble, I drew an angel, Daddy.”
I was not pleased at the time. But she did see me write in the Bible all the time. It was perfectly natural for her to write in it too. After looking at it I realized it was an angel, just a little one. That little angel has grown on me over time. An angel really is a good thing to draw in a Bible.
Years have swiftly passed and Hannah has grown into a young woman. This year Hannah graduated from the Stonebridge Academy (our home school). She is eighteen. She doesn’t make messes or scribble in expensive Bibles anymore. I would love to enjoy her little years over again, but life doesn’t work like that.
She likes to drive. She wants the keys. She is eager to make her way in the world and do exciting things. I don’t blame her. She is a beautiful girl inside and out with a very promising future.
She draws angels wherever she goes. She has made marks all over all of our lives. She has marked my life and my heart and those marks will never go away. I never want them to.
Whenever I have seen her little angel in that Bible I use it reminds me to thank God for her and ask the blessing of God on her wherever life takes her. He takes our scribbles and even our mistakes and makes masterpieces of them.
In his book, How To Be Born Again, Billy Graham wrote: “There is a well-known story of some men in Scotland who had spent the day fishing. That evening they were having tea in a little inn. One of the fishermen, in a characteristic gesture to describe the size of the fish that got away, slung out his hands just as the little waitress was getting ready to set the cup of tea at his place. The hand and the teacup collided, dashing the tea against the whitewashed walls. Immediately an ugly brown stain began to spread over the wall. The man who did it was very embarrassed and apologized profusely, but one of the other guests jumped up and said, ‘Never mind.’ Pulling a pen from his pocket, he began to sketch around the ugly brown stain. Soon there emerged a picture of a magnificent royal stag with his antlers spread. That artist was Sir Edwin Landseer, England’s foremost painter of animals.”
Ken Pierpont
In Ankeny, Iowa
June 26, 2008
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