This weekend we celebrated the birth of our sixth grandchild, and as I sat in the rocker holding her last night all I could think was:  This is a miracle!  All six of them – now three girls and three boys – are miraculous gifts from God.

As I was reading this morning the following – from Wayne Muller’s Sabbath* seemed appropriate for this post:

“My friend Janie was visiting the home of an old potter at Canta Clara pueblo.  She was admiring the enormous collection of pots her host had on display throughout his home.  ‘How many do you have?’ my friend innocently inquired.  Her host lowered his eyes. ‘We do not count such things,’ he replied quietly.

During Sabbath we stop counting.  How do we count friendship or laughter?  How do we count the value of honesty, or bread from the oven?  How can we count the sunrise, the trusting clasp of a child’s hand, a melody, a tear, a lover’s touch?  So many truly precious things grow only in the soil of time; and we can only begin to know their value when we stop counting.” (112)

*Muller, Wayne.  Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives.  New York: Bantam Books, 1999.