Windfalls

I just passed a house on my street that had a basket of apples balanced on the wall with a sign that read: "Windfalls, please help yourself." While I do not know the woman who owns the house, I do see her cleaning her yard and her windows sometimes. I've only caught her eye once, when she was inside cleaning her window, and when I waved she waved back. The few things I know about her is that she has white hair, a ready smile, and a lot of apples, which she is happy to share with her neighbours.

The sign she had on the basket and her generosity got me thinking about blessings and the act of sharing these blessings. There has been a lot of "windfalls" in my life that have come unexpectedly but timely, which has made everything from challenges to simple day to day living more tolerable and enlightening. If a smile from perfect strangers on a bad day makes me feel better about myself, what more a squeal of delight from my three month old daughter? Or the look on my husband's face when I tell him about it?

I think we receive gifts from many unexpected sources, and because they are unexpected they are all the more precious and touching. I say, let's all take stock of these windfalls, appreciate them, and pass them on.