The skies were cloudy as I boarded the plane in Moscow to bring my newly adopted

seven month old daughter home.

Weary as I was from the past few days I could hardly wait to get home.

I sat in a window seat and held Noelle in my lap.

Marveling at her black curls, big brown eyes and soft, olive colored skin.

She slept soundly for the first few hours.

Occasionally I glanced out the window happy to see the sun shining

     way up high above the clouds.

I will never forget that moment though when Noelle opened her eyes and met mine.

Giggles all around.

Joy overflowing.

I adjusted her position and noticed her eyes following the sunlight

   as it streamed through the window.

Fascination.

Excitement.

She reached out trying to touch the sunshine

     but then suddenly noticed her hand.

She gazed moving it back and forth. Looking up at me and then

back and forth again.

More smiles and giggles as she discovered that it was HER hand.

Hers.

“Hand,” I whispered remembering back to those days in the orphanage.

She had been tightly wrapped

   Spending hours and hours on her back.

      No sun.

        No moving of limbs.

She clearly had never realized that she had hands

             and arms.

So while the plane glided through the sky

    my precious little child made the greatest discovery.

There was more to her than she thought.

Smile

In a mystery too deep to clearly understand

    the church is a body

We are connected to Christ as our Head.

Yes, and we have hands and arms

       and feet and legs.

           Eyes and ears. Mouths and hearts. And many other parts.

All belong to each other and to Him.

Relationship. Belonging at its very best.

All too often we do not even see what is part of us.

Our eyes are blinded to the Truth of our connections.

And like Noelle that morning so long ago

     sometimes the light streams across our path

     drawing our attention to another part of us.

         A part we had never seen before

      but still very much a part of us.

Ephesians 5:30 – members of His Body. All drawing Strength from the Lord.

Shining moments when we see what we had never seen before

        and begin to grasp what we had not known before.

Waving her hands back and forth

    Noelle continued to bask in her new-found discovery

           giving me a shining moment that I will treasure always in my heart.