His Best by Teresa Pollard
His Best
I was fifteen. Much too old to believe in Santa Claus. Besides, I didn’t need him. I had my own godmother; no, not a fairy godmother, but close enough. My godmother, Lillian Holmes, known to me and fifty-some foster children as Mama Lil, loved me like I was her own daughter. I had lived with her until I was four years old because my dad was in the army in Korea and my mom worked nights. After that I spent most summers with her at the Rappahannock River. She and Daddy Harry were always an important part of my life. She was a great seamstress, and she made most of my clothes when I was growing up. They were always beautiful.
I wasn’t at all athletic, but I loved to roller skate. All I wanted for Christmas that year was a skating skirt. Since I’d told Mama Lil that’s what I wanted, I was pretty sure I was going to get my skirt, but as the morning wore on, and we’d opened most of the presents, there was still no skirt. I was really beginning to feel disappointed. Finally, she handed me my last box. In it was a green felt skating skirt with a red felt band. I was so happy.
But then she really surprised me. She pulled another big box, wrapped in foil paper and a huge velvet bow from behind the sofa.. “Well, I guess if you’re so happy with that, you won’t want this one then!” I knew right away it was something special.
When I opened the box, it contained a two-piece red velvet skating outfit with a mint green satin lining. It was the most incredible skating outfit I’d ever seen! And so soft and comfortable! Of course it fit perfectly. I think for the first time in my life I really felt beautiful in that skating outfit.
I sometimes think that God may be a bit like Mama Lil was that Christmas morning. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” (NASB) He always has great things in store for us. But the question is do we sometimes settle for green felt, when what He has in mind is red velvet with a satin lining? Waiting on the Lord isn’t easy. I’ll admit sometimes I’m still like that fifteen year old kid feeling disappointed. But I do realize that His timing is always perfect, and if I wait, sooner or later, what He has in store is going to be so incredible even a red velvet outfit will pale in comparison! I never want to settle for anything less than His best!
Teresa Pollard is from Richmond, Virginia, and was saved at a young age. She has a Masters degree in English and Creative Writing from Hollins College, and has served as a Sunday School teacher and children’s worker for most of the last forty years. Married for forty years, she was devastated by divorce and the death of her youngest daughter, but God has blessed her with a new home and another grandson, and she now resides in Dacula, Georgia. Her website is TeresaPollardWrites.com
Teresa’s books published by HopeSprings Books:
- “Not Guilty“, February 2013
- “Tokens of Promise“, June 2013
