My Favorite Little Cherub

Psalm 18:19

He brought me forth into a broad place;

He rescued me, because He delighted in me. 

I live in a house that was built, or more accurately stated--begun, in 1895. And back before landfills were created, and sadly long after that time, folks chucked small and not-so-small broken items into refuse piles in the woods. One such pile sits, not surprisingly, about 75 feet from the house under the trees nearest the kitchen. It is full of weathered bits of old glass jars, fragments of once useful items and an occasional piece of brittle plastic.

     I have in our 5 years here found all sorts of interesting little things in this particular pile, but none that has brought me more happiness than my sweet little porcelain cherub. 

     In her glory days she used to sit lightly on the edge of an elegant vase or serving dish that adorned the homestead. But something happened and her perch met some terrible and heart-breaking end and was summarily cast off to the garbage heap, where she sat, untended for many years. I imagine that her former station was an expensive wedding present from some wealthy relative of a previous owner more than a hundred years ago. (It's so much more romantic than thinking that somebody might have plucked her off a thrift store shelf in the 80's. )

     But either way, I knew as soon as she came into view that it was my duty to rescue her from that dreadful place where she could only conclude--if she were capable of concluding--that she was a reject and worthless. I brought her inside, made her clean, and she now sits happily on the edge of my aloe plant on the kitchen window sill where I can admire and cherish her. 

     And in return, she reminds me of two things: 

One, that I mustn't forget to water the aloe from time to time. And two, that I was likewise rescued by an adoring Benefactor who takes delight in me.