Little Suprises and being Present in Life

Life is full of surprises, some are very big and life changing but more often than not, they are small, and if your not careful, you might overlook the significance of it.  The picture you see above is one I took of a gift, a surprise gift from a friend.  This lady has been a mentor to me in my Catholic faith, a teacher and guide to our family as we grew and came into the church.  She is a person with a gentleness about her spirit that you can see in the way she lives.  She is not someone who I exchange gifts with, not because I wouldn't, we just haven't done that.  But she found this beautiful handmade figurine at a fair trade sale a while back and said she thought of my family.  She just wanted me to have it.   It is made of soapstone and was handmade in Kenya.  It stands for "family" which is universal.  I think it looks beautiful on my mantle.  I of course said thank you and then she replied not with your welcome but thank you for receiving it.  Coming out of the Christmas season and buying gifts to even out things under the tree; it made me look at gifts in a different way.  It reminded me that giving is a gift by it's self.  See, small surprises. 
Another surprise came this evening when my 13 year old son came to us and asked if starting Saturday morning that we as a family take a break from facebook And get this, the T.V.  This came from, you read right, a 13 yr old boy who by the way, loves his tech time.  I talking, you tell him he has 30 minutes on the computer, he is willing to get grounded for sassing me to get to stay on 31 minutes.  I asked him his reasons for this request, and he said he thought it would be good for us all.  I love FB but you cannot say no when your child makes this kind of request. 
See, surprises are everywhere.  I pray that this coming tech free week and this year, I make it a point to find the surprises that we all receive all the time.  I think  being able to see these surprises is what being present for your life is.  I have heard this term so many times and always struggled with  what it meant to me.  I think this is my definition.
I hope next week to share how our week has gone.  I would be willing to bet I find all kinds of little surprises, and I hope the same for you.