What Do You Think?

I first met her when she was in her mother’s womb. My most vivid memory of her was when she pushed on her mom’s bladder during Church History class one night and forced out the statestion, “Pregnant woman here. May we please have a break?” A break we had so that her mom could pull herself out of her cushioned chair and waddle down the hall.

Her mom’s waddling again these days. Pregnant with a boy this time. And while we don’t have the pleasure of sitting through Church History together for this pregnancy, we do have the pleasure of seeing each other quite often and spending time with that little girl at the State Fair and the zoo and the pedicure place and the Farmer’s Market.

The last time we saw each other, my dear friend Christina, waddler though she be, mentioned that her awesome daughter Kara wanted a “real Bible”—one with “the full story of Moses.” She said they’d been having a lot of great conversations and that Kara was asking a lot of good questions. We discussed this topic a bit more and then moved to other conversation—like we always do—but the seed of Bible buying had been planted in my mind…and it sprouted yesterday on my day off.

After bringing some delicious little treats to my office staff (brown sugar topped, bacon wrapped, Ritz cracker sandwiches with crème cheese in the middle), I went to the zoo to see the bears. After seeing the bears, I went to run some errands. While running errands, I thought to myself, “Self—you should go buy Kara a Bible.” So I bought Kara a Bible, and I smiled. I had her name engraved on the front. I said a prayer of thanksgiving that I could hear her mom saying her full name in reprimand and prayer of hope that I spelled her name right. And then I delivered the Bible to Kara’s house. Kara wasn’t home, so I left the Bible with her waddling mom. I didn’t get to see Kara’s reaction to the somewhat random gift. Her mom made it even more special by insisting that I sign the front page and then gift-bagging the Bible for me.

Later last night, I sent Christina a text asking how Kara liked the Bible. The response that I got was so simply beautiful that tears filled my eyes. I received the picture at the bottom of this note, and the text simply said, “What do you think? :-)”

What do I think? I think that this image is one of the most sacred images I have ever seen…and I think that I am extremely blessed to have had the honor and privilege of giving Kara her first “real Bible.” Who knows…maybe she’ll carry it to Church History class one day.

*Note: I wrote this post on 3.29. Christina had her baby boy on 4.1. He is beautiful...and she is no longer waddling!*