a collection of soft toys from left; a potato, a dragon, a bean, a bear, and a witch

Thank You Mrs Sparkle

A curious thing happened today.

DB and I went to our local village fair, and among the things we do every year, we went into the Church to look at the Art and Craft Exhibition.

One of the pieces was an arrangement of hand-made bears, with a sign saying something along the lines of:

These bears were made with love, and the maker offers you one for free.

Made with Love

Anyone, who has ever gone to school and made a gift for Mother’s Day, knows what it feels like to make something with love.

And perhaps your mother was kind and kept it until you forgot about it. Or perhaps she wasn’t.

But you created a thing, and you put a piece of your soul in it, along with the souls of materials you used, and it became a new thing with a soul of its own.

Deserving of Love

I swear to you, the bear above waved at me to attract my attention.

I admired it but moved onto other pieces.

I thought someone else was more deserving of a free bear made with love than me.

I’ll just leave that with you for a moment.


I thought someone else was more deserving of love than me.

And each of the three times a person told me the bears were made with love, and the maker was offering them (for free), and I should take one, I thought the same thing.

Someone else was more deserving than me.

Moving Past Love

I moved on.

I ate a bacon sandwich and looked at some stalls.

And then I started feeling bad for the rejected bear.

Mrs Sparkle

Mrs Sparkle (not the bear maker) is a friend of mine. She is the most selflessly loving person I know. She’s always making and doing things for other people. Not because she has to, but because she wants to make them happy.

She makes and gives gifts of love.

Whatever she makes, it’s in particular colours or textures or sweetness because she has someone in mind when she makes it.

Poor open, generous Mrs Sparkle is often hurt by people who don’t understand or appreciate her gifts.

And who’s to say that the mystery bear maker didn’t make this bear thinking it would be perfect for a breast cancer surviving kidney transplant patient who’s been having a hard time lately.

So knowing how Mrs Sparkle feels, I then started feeling bad for the maker of the bear.

Love Never Moves Past You

I was feeling so bad for the bear, and for Mrs Sparkle, and the bear maker, and maybe for me too, that tears were leaking from my eyes.

We all deserve love and acceptance.

I’ll let you think about that for a moment


WE ALL DESERVE LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE

Especially when it is freely offered with no expectation of return.

I went back and got the bear.

And I’m sure the guy who wanted to tell me about not choosing “my” bear thought I was very rude as I put the bear in the pouch of my hoodie and holding it in both hands, walked away.

Thank you Mrs Sparkle(s)

My bear’s maker is clearly another Mrs Sparkle.

So thank you Mrs Sparkle for this bear, which did indeed arrive around about the time I needed it most.

Thank you to all the Mrs Sparkles who help the rest of us survive when times get tough.


Addendum: I’ve even bought the bear some hand made friends.

a collection of soft toys from left; a potato, a dragon, a bean, a bear, and a witch
Photos of a bear and his friends by Me! Thank you all you lovely Mrs Sparkles!

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