Diamond Moments

By Leone Harris

Diamond Moments is a book of hope and comfort, a perfect bedside book. With short anecdotes and drawings, Leone Harris shares special moments from her life - moments of natural beauty
and divine inspiration.
Leone and her husband Evan had an “open house” in Kaeo, New Zealand, in the 1970’s and 80’s. Hitchhikers, travellers and seekers found love and acceptance in their home.
Twenty-five years later she looks back...
These true stories will fascinate you. Some will inspire. A few will sadden. But all give a glimpse of God’s intimate knowledge of every person, and his amazing, unfailing love
for each one.
Meet Michael who felt he had “blown it” and ruined all hope for the future; Jane who had been told never to come home if she got pregnant; Neil on his way to lonely Cape Reinga to commit suicide...
“Diamond Moments will touch your heart and strengthen your faith in God.” - Rosie Boom, author of the series The Gift of Values, HSM Publishing, Australia.
First printed in 2008 by Leone's son Peter and Eutopia Press, Diamond Moments is now being re-released by Peter and his sister Rosie Boom (now herself a much-loved Christian author), as an ebook with an accompanying blog where Leone's many colourful bookmarks will be freely available for download, sorted by the various languages the Bible quotations are written in. Though not (yet!) a Christian, Peter has a love for his mother who first taught him to be creative, and to dream...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leone Harris
• Release date: May 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476300306

Leone Harris

This is by Leone's son Peter, as she is now 90 and does not write much any more, though there is still that twinkle in her eye, and that love for people and all nature, and the desire to share that love. As I wrote in the preface to the print edition in 2008: "My mother believes in Divine magic. She believes it is all around us. When we are young we believe in it naturally, and see it everywhere. Then we ‘grow up’, life gets so busy and serious, and we can forget to even look. So, every now and then God reminds us – very often through nature. For example, when a bird alights on a bare branch after rain and dislodges a split-second shower of raindrops that flash in the sun like diamonds. My mother, a life-long learner from the ‘Book of nature written in God’s handwriting,’ keeps a keen eye and heart open for these ‘Diamond Moments’, and records them lovingly in words and drawings. We have collected some of her drawings from the thousands of bookmarks and cards she has sent out to family, friends and missionaries around the world, and put them with some of the stories she has to tell. We hope you enjoy them all - and that they will inspire you to send in some of your own Diamond Moments to the website for this book [links are in the present ebook] where you will meet others who testify to the Divine magic all around us. Peter Harris Eutopia Press 21/5/08 Now it is 2012, and many have read the original print edition and been comforted entertained and even blessed. One elderly lady I knew was not a believer but still kept this book at her bedside, and found comfort in it. So now my mother is ninety, she still lives at home with Evan after sixty-nine years of marriage. We children appreciate and love them very much. As do the grandchildren - and great grandchildren! The Bookmark mission continued for many years after Leone retired from it, and now the pick of all those bookmarks will be put up on the website of diamond moments, for all to download and be inspired by.

Book preview

A big thank you to:

Evan, for preparing so many meals so I could keep writing these anecdotes. I love you!

John, our precious first born son; many are the notes you have sent me over the years, encouraging me to write a book

Rosie, you generously shared your writing expertise with me. I have so valued your help.

Penny, you always took time from your busy schedule to encourage me to keep writing.

Peter, for your beautiful cover design and for publishing the book. Diamond Moments would never have seen the light of day without all your help.

Daniel and Raewyn, for all your wonderful help with editing and formatting.

All my friends, who over the years have told me how the stories I’ve shared with them have helped them. Your encouragement inspired me to write this book.

Leone Harris

Introduction

We all have diamond moments, short-lived

Like raindrops showered on us from a tree

But they last like precious jewels

In our memory...

Colin Cole, a good friend of ours and a well-known dress designer, used to say to his beautiful wife Maire, Darling, I love you so much I would like to shower you with diamonds!

Some years ago when Colin was at home recuperating from heart surgery and resting in an arm-chair, Maire heard a thud. She hurried into the lounge and saw Colin collapsed on the floor.

Months later she shared with Evan and me that at that moment of realising her husband was no longer breathing, she became aware of a beautiful shower of diamonds all around her.

Some of my diamond moments have also come at unexpected and painful times.

My childhood was not always a happy one. My mother, brother and I were often packing up and following my father around Australia. But we were never united as a family. I always longed for a home, and that Dad would decide to stay with us.

One of the most wonderful moments of my life was when I realised I had a heavenly father who loved me. One who would never leave me.

I hope you will be blessed as you read about some of the diamond moments in my life.

Polished Shoes and White Pebbles

When I was five, I started school in Cairns. My eight-year-old brother Jackie looked after me well, going with me in the morning and escorting me home in the afternoon.

An Aboriginal girl sat across the aisle from me. She was always neatly dressed. One day she arrived wearing brand new black patent leather shoes with a strap across the instep and buttoned at the side, the same as mine. I wondered if her mother used a special hook to button up the shoes the way my mother did for me.

This girl took off her shoes every morning after she was seated at her desk. She’d spit on her spotless white handkerchief and use it to clean the soles of her shoes! This was my headline news for Jackie when we met at the school gate, then I shared it with Mum when we arrived home.

Sometimes on our way home we’d stop to watch men cutting sugar cane, and usually they’d cut a piece for each of us to chew while we walked home.

Jackie was my very best friend. At home he often read stories to me, because I was only just learning to read. He collected some white pebbles and taught me how to rub them together until a spark came. If we put our heads under a rug the sparks looked brighter.

One Friday afternoon as we walked home, the grocer, who had a shop nearby, invited us to his daughter’s birthday party the following afternoon. We were so excited when Mum said we could go.

However in the morning her face looked serious as she spoke to me. Leone, you’ll have to go to the party on your own. Jackie has a bad headache. Be nice and quiet, dear. Play with your dolls, or look at some picture books until it’s time to put on your party dress.

The grocer’s home was at the back of the store, so it wasn’t far to walk. I didn’t stay long though, because I couldn’t stop crying. When the grocer saw how upset I was at being there without Jackie, he took me home.

When she saw me, Mum said, Be very quiet dear, so you don’t wake Jackie. He’s having a sleep now but his head has been very sore.

The rest of that day I probably looked at picture storybooks, but all I remember was the loneliness I felt. When I woke in the morning, Mum was sitting on my bed. Last night Jackie had to go to the hospital to be looked after. But he died dear, and has gone to heaven.

I don’t remember crying or being comforted. I realise now that Mum must have been grieving too much to think I needed to be held in her arms. After I dressed, I waited for Mum to come to me. I sat on a wooden bay window seat in the front hall feeling numb and lonely, while I heard a pastor reading to Mum a psalm about sheep, which I know now would have been Psalm 23.

I longed to be near my mother so I tiptoed along the passage to her room. The door was almost shut. The pastor must have been on a chair to the right of the door but when I pushed the door gently I could see Mum seated on the edge of her bed looking at a photo of Jackie, rocking and crying. They didn’t see me so I tiptoed back to the window seat feeling cold and lonely.

The Gypsies Will Get You

It was scary going back to school on my own after Jackie died. The first day back, when I heard the school bell ring after lunch, I ran home. A man on the street called out to me, What are you doing out of school, little girl?

I ran faster, remembering how someone had once told me to be very good or the gypsies would get me. I knew I shouldn’t have left school early. Fear clutched at my heart. What a relief when I saw our house. I ran up the path and tried to open the door. It was locked!

Where could I hide? The only place was under the house. It was dark and not high enough for grown-up gypsies to grab me, so I squeezed under and lay flat on my back in the dirt. I waited for what seemed like forever before I heard the gate open. Someone was coming along the path. Was it a gypsy?

My mother! I could see her shoes and ankles as she walked to the back door. Relief flooded through me. I wriggled out onto the path and ran to the back door before Mum had unlocked it. How warm and safe I felt as we hugged each other.

Mud Pies to Eat

Soon after Jackie died, Mum and I stayed with friends who owned a private hotel in Cairns. They had an only child, who was five, the same age as I was. His name was Freddie. We became good friends. After rain had kept us indoors for