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The oddly-shaped package arrived from Ireland a few days before Christmas. I recognized my sister’s writing. I squeezed and shook the packet in an attempt to guess what it was; I didn’t succeed. After unwrapping several layers of paper and tape, I found a bright yellow felt purse with plastic handles, little yellow pom-poms hanging from the zipper, and a rather large stuffed bumblebee on the side.

“What on earth am I meant to do with this?” I asked aloud. “I’ll be a laughing stock if I carry this around.”

I pulled the pom-poms and the bag unzipped to reveal a black stretch hair-band with another bumblebee attached. I opened the accompanying card.

“Remember you told me the story of the bumblebee,” my sister wrote.

“You told me the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly because its body was too heavy for its wings ……”

I smiled as I remembered. I’d told her the bumblebee had never been told it couldn’t fly, so it just went ahead and buzzed all over the place gathering nectar and making honey.

“You told me that I just needed to trust my own wings and go after my dreams, and not be limited because of how I saw my body.”

My sister, a teenager at the time, had anorexia and was finding the treatment very hard to handle. I told her the bumblebee story to encourage her to look beyond the distorted image she had formed about her body.

“The story stayed with me,” her card continued. “I’m sending you this wee bumblebee bag to remind you of all the impossible things you have yet to do.”

During last summer in Ireland, we had shared some of the challenges in our lives.

“You’re never too old to do the impossible, Eileen,” the card concluded.

“Use your wings and let your spirit buzz.”

What a gift.

I don’t know about you, but it’s so easy for me to focus on the limitations of my body instead of the power of my spirit. Too often I allow myself to be grounded by negative thoughts and beliefs, and by the judgments and opinions of others.

If the bumblebee can fly and soar even though its body is technically too heavy for its flimsy wings, what’s to stop me from allowing my spirit to carry me beyond whatever artificial limitations I tend to put on myself?

My sister’s gift was simple, inexpensive and fun. It ignited a new spark in my spirit. What negative thoughts do you allow to limit your spirit?

What simple gifts have sparked your spirit?

Is there a simple gift you can give to someone else whose spirit needs lifting?