Day of Blessings

On Tuesdays I work with two ladies - one in the morning, one in the afternoon. The afternoon lady often tries my patience like nobody else, so today I was praying really hard for extra patience, almost dreading how hard those three and a half hours might be.
By the end of my time with her, I'd been blessed in ways I didn't expect. First of all, when she saw me, her face lit up like I was the greatest thing she'd seen all day. And she started giggling...imagine a short, round lady with no neck (her head just sort of sprouts off her shoulders). She jiggles when she laughs, and her eyes scrunch up really tight. The smiling and giggling and jiggling kept up all afternoon.
Secondly, one of our routines is to hold hands while I sing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", and we swing our hands back and forth and she looks at me with adoring eyes. Today the simple profundity (or profound simplicity...I'm not sure which way makes more sense) really struck me in a new way. That song and "Jesus Loves Me" are the only ones we ever really need to know, I think.
Lastly, as we were heading back to her home, I heard myself saying something without even thinking about it. I said, "Debbie, you know what I love about you? You know that you're loved." Right then and there I had a taste of the joy God feels when we live in the knowledge of His love for us. Debbie has a severe disability, and she has ample opportunity to feel the cold shoulder of a world that values usefulness over innate worth. But that doesn't stop her from being happy and feeling safe with those of us who love her, even taking that love for granted by not giving anything in return but a smile and a giggle. And what a beautiful smile and giggle they are!