It rained just a little bit today.
Rain had been in the forecast, but it sure didn’t look like rain when I got dressed this morning. I wore pants (warm legs) and sandals (cute toes), no jacket. And as the morning wore on the sky got darker and it rained.
Hallelujah! We so need the rain.
We’re getting a little crazy about water over here. I’m saving any clean kitchen water (washing lettuce? clean water flowing through! flowers died? vase water = clean enough) and using it to water outside plants. I’m banging on bathroom doors to keep showers short and soon will plant buckets in showers to save “warm up” water.
When the Israelites, having escaped Egypt by God’s grace, felt like they just might die of starvation in the desert (short memory!), God responded: “…the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you'” (Exodus 16:4).
God will rain down what we need. The question: will we recognize it?
Miracles in the Mundane aims to recognize God and His provisions. I don’t always (none of us do), but I try.
*I haven’t been beyond-nutty about the anniversary of my dad’s death or my Tween’s absence. What we didn’t know: kids’ Sunday school class wrote letters to God. Tween wrote: “God, don’t let me be too homesick at science camp.” He addressed the envelope:
God
1,000,000 Heavenly Way
Heaven
And he left it in the Sanctuary on Sunday, as if he was leaving a letter for God (or, forgotten in pursuit of his chatty parents?). Naturally, the ushers picked it up and gave it to the prayer team. Who, of course, added it to their prayer list. And God, of course, answers prayers. We’ll know tomorrow how Tween weathered camp, but this Mama has done better than expected.
*Guy bought a too-good-to-pass-up local car deal. Not exactly what Teen had been looking for but priced right with good perks (we suspect he likes the stereo more than the car). It’s Guy’s car, to which Teen has privileges we can revoke at any time. For now, as Guy tells me, it buys us some freedom. Freedom for Teen, for Guy, comes with a bittersweet taste for Mama – My Kid driving away…
*Divine appointments. My friends at the park met a new friend and invited her to our Moms’ group at church. I am so grateful for a safe place at church to invite friends, to welcome and be welcomed, to cry, to doubt, to learn, to grow, to be real, to comfort and be comforted, to hug, to love. I adore this group of women!
*I’m grateful for friends near and far who follow their calling and invite me to grow along with them. Over the last month I’ve learned about cleaning out my home and my soul, my work and my relationships, and now more personally, about my relationship with my own body. My new commitment: to greet myself with an, “Hello, Beautiful!” each morning. No matter the bedhead or bad breath, God makes all things beautiful and who am I to call Him wrong?
*I am grateful for my body! This week I got my hair done (and have received several unsolicited compliments). I have exercised more days than not. I have treated my body to healthy food and drink and gotten enough rest – and woken up early as a result. I have smiled and enjoyed outfits created from the clothes hanging in my own closet (newly purged of anything I didn’t enjoy). My chiropractor worked out some kinks and found more knots and told me what to start and stop doing to heal my body’s hurts.
*One year ago today Guy began his sabbatical. Those months, at home and abroad, changed us. We learned about ourselves and one another, about our culture and others’, about what we want and how life is and what we might need to do to preserve and to change both ourselves and the current state of affairs… We slowed down in beautiful intention to be and to read and to live and to love and I don’t ever want to go back to exactly the same.
April showers bring May flowers… It may be May already, but always rain creates the necessary conditions for growth. So I will be grateful for God’s rain – water from heaven and life circumstances – and grow, grow, GROW!
