Surprise.

Today my youngest brother dropped off the Christmas gift he'd been planning for me for quite some time. When I told him I'd like him to consider giving to a charity on my behalf as opposed to getting me something he laughed at me. He said he wouldn't do that. That's my youngest brother for you. He truly humbles me.

So today he surprised me at 9:30 am with a big gift in his hands and said, "It's ready"! I said, "I can open it?" So I unwrapped it to find this amazing piece of art that he had picked out for me and had specially framed. It's an abstract piece. I'm not sure who the artist is or what the name of the piece is, but he was inspired by some other pieces I had in our apartment and when he saw this piece in pike street market he got it. It's a big painting with very beautiful, bold colors. I think it is a redemptive piece. Meaning I feel redeemed when I look at it. Or rather I'm reminded that redemption is so near when I look at it.

His gift truly floored me. In and of itself, it is fantastic. But I think the aspect that humbles me the most is that my brother demonstrated that he 'gets me'. Most of my, 20's (and adolescence) I struggled with this whole idea of being known. I would simply ask the question, "Can anyone be known?" "Can anyone even get a glimpse of who anyone is?" And I had theorized that, "yes, maybe we can catch glimpses, but no one person can be fully known by another human." Maybe that came from cynicism... Or maybe that is just the truth and a practical way at looking at relationship and life. I've come to realize that I can only truly and fully be known by my creator. And yet, a bit of me aches to be seen, experienced and known by my husband, my daughter, my parents, my friends, my siblings, my grandfather and my colleagues. And I think that there are ways in which they know me, but never completely. I believe that it is God's divine calling for us to engage the mystery of each other and to expose the frailty of our longing for relationship.

After many years of trying to jump hoops and find a way to make people like me, get me and be proud of me. I feel in a much more hopeful place knowing that God knows my soul, my heart, my every thought and that it is truly magnificent to be caught by another human being. God redeems our disappointments through his biblical truth that he promises life and he heals through the simplicity of being surprised by human hands.

This life is amazing.