TOYS

Wild Word Friday!

Each year my husband Neil and I are blessed to spend some of our holidays with our little granddaughters.   I’ve been making doll clothes since October and shopping for TOYS, not only for my own granddaughters, but also for the children who will receive Christmas toys through the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child drive. http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/Pack_A_Shoe_Box/.

TOY is another of those mystery words.  It is related to modern Danish, tuig, which means gear or tools, but the closest ancient source is from the Middle English toye, which referred to a flirtation or something that had little value.

A few weeks ago in our Sunday morning church service, a friend of mine gave the children’s sermon.  This service included the Blessing of the Shoe Boxes which congregants had filled with toys and supplies to be delivered through Samaritan’s Purse to underprivileged children overseas.  My friend was born and raised in Romania.  She explained that when she was a child in Romania, a very good Christmas meant receiving one or two gifts – an orange or a banana or a small chocolate bar.  She also explained how delighted she was the Christmas she received a box through Samaritan’s Purse that was packed with toys and items like rulers and pencils and paper and soap.  That Christmas box to her was a demonstration of God’s love.

Isn’t it wonderful that a word like toye, which meant something of little value, has come to mean something that can have great value if it is given in love!

Q4U:  What was your favorite toy when you were a child?

Blessings!  Sue