Thankful Thursday: Refrigerator Magnets

I love refrigerator magnets....not because of their collectability or souvenir quality, although we have some from varied places like Massachusetts, Great Britain, Hoover Dam and even one from the Old Cow Town Museum in Wichita, Kansas. We have a few sentimental ones as well, but really my affection for these handy little items has been a recent development. There was a time when I found them somewhat of a nuisance, making it hard to clean the refrigerator door, always falling off and getting lost under the monster-appliance. And we have magnets not only on our refrigerator but also scattered on the back of our front door. Of course, underneath all those interesting magnets is an ever-revolving display of child-art, snapshots, inspirational quotes, light-hearted comic strips, and school reminder notes like "Popcorn Sale Friday, 25 cents." There was a time when I would have told you that for the most part, the magnets were just a functional convenience. But everything changed a few weeks ago as I was sitting, a little bit sullen, in my kitchen rocking chair. Just casually glancing over towards the fridge, I noticed a couple of upside down magnets, then another and a few more. As I looked closer, it slowly dawned on me that every magnet within the reach of a 3 or 5 year-old had been carefully inverted. Knowing the two little girls well who had devised the scheme, I could easily picture them talking and giggling together over the upside-down magnets. I smiled. Then I laughed. Sometimes it's the smallest things that open up the well inside and let it all flow out. It was a quiet peaceful sort of laugh that I indulged in that night, as I realized, really everything is well.

Let the little things bring perspective back into sight. It's amazing how something so small can cause such an explosion of love and thankfulness for the little people in your life. Funny, the next day I overheard the girls talking to each other about the upside down magnets and laughing. They don't know how their play blessed mom...and gave her a lasting appreciation of refrigerator magnets.