A Story by Malinda Smith

By the time my son, Jonathan was six years old he was quite verbal and was able to communicate pretty well.  However, due to a severe hearing impairment and a pervasive developmental delay, his vocabulary was limited for his age and his expressive language was even more limited.

In January of that year, following two big ice storms, our Christmas tree was standing out on the patio in the ice and cold. The sun was brilliant at last and we had electricity for the first time in days. Jonathan kept calling "mom, mom, mom." I was busy doing chores that had gone by the wayside while we were without power.

Finally, I answered "What" in an irritable tone.

"Come and look" he said. I went to the back door and looked out. Our discarded Christmas tree with its icicles was reflecting the sun brilliantly. "Look how pretty", he said. "Its sparkling like diamonds."

I was blown away, both by the exquisite beauty of the son on the tree, as well as by my son's amazing use of language to express it. I was quite humbled because my son was not only able to see but express the beauty of God's amazing world while I was merely annoyed with him for interrupting me.