I opened the present my parents gave me for graduation and noticed the box said "Willow Tree." My mom likes these little statues, so it figures she'd pick one out for me. Although they are pretty cool, the pieces look like a potato after it's been peeled - all lumpy and uneven. Mom told me to read the little card on the outside of the box.
I smiled as I read the description.
"Happiness: free to sing, laugh, dance, create!"
I thought to myself, "What kind of statue could be in this box? What little person in a unique pose could express this kind of description?"
I undid the lid and looked inside. I pulled out the 6-inch statue and just stared at it. It was a girl wearing a simple white dress. She had long brown hair down to her shoulders, and her head was turned up to the sky. Her chest was out and her arms were widely spread like Rose on the deck of the Titanic.
The best part about the piece were the three bluebirds resting on her arms; it looked like they were joyfully singing away, like they didn't have a care in the world. Mom told me to change the word "happiness" in the description to "joy," because while happiness is temporary, joy lives on forever.
I decided it was a pretty cool gift, but wondered where I would put it. My room was already cluttered, and I didn't want it to get lost in the mess.
Because it was 1 a.m. and I was extremely sleep-deprived from the night before, I set the figure on my bureau and decided to wait until I could think clearly to actually put it somewhere.
A day or two went by and there it sat, just waiting for me to move to its new location. I didn't think too much about the statue until a few days after I set it there. I walked into my room and happened to notice it. I saw the girl's face pointed towards the sky in youthful wonder and majesty, I noticed the three birds still perched on her arms, truly joyful at the concept of resting on this wonderful person.
I stopped walking. I forgot what I came upstairs to do. I just stood in the doorway. I picked up the little statue and gasped as I saw myself in that carving.
"That's me?" I thought. "Do people really see me as the essence of joy, laughter, and creativity?"
I just about cried right there.
For the first time, I truly saw what God had created me to be, the essence of myself, who I really was in His eyes.
"If this is who I am, if joy and a youthful attitude describe me, I wouldn't want to be any other way," I decided.
Today, that little statue still perches on my bureau because it's a daily reminder of God's special design in me and His important plan for my life.
I kinda have a feeling that plan has something to do with the description on the card.
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