I’ve been in a busy season lately. I have a recent college graduate who is home at the moment. She and I have been redoing furniture. My sister is visiting for a few weeks and we are traveling. I am trying to be present in the moment these days. If Covid taught me anything it’s about the importance of relationships and especially family. I am taking a few weeks off from writing and just soaking up every single moment. I hope to meet you back here after my break.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂
I was driving to work one day last week, enjoying the sunny morning. The skies were spectacularly blue and I was feeling grateful. When I got close to my parking spot, I passed a man walking with a backpack and a large umbrella. The umbrella caught my eye because it was such a beautiful morning, but I knew why he was carrying it.
When I first started my job, I was walking to my car at the end of the day and a few raindrops began to fall. The sun was out and we weren’t expecting rain, but in just a couple of minutes, I was caught in a downpour that came out of nowhere. A girl ran past me and commented that it wasn’t supposed to rain, yet there we were. While I was sheltering under a tree, a sweet coworker was driving by and she offered me a ride for the rest of the way. I gladly accepted.
Determined not to get caught again, I bought a little umbrella to keep in my bag that I take with me everyday. A couple of weeks later, it began raining once again on my walk to the car, but I was prepared, or so I thought. I pulled out my new little umbrella and smiled. I would be dry on my walk to my car. But, this was a blowing rain.
My head stayed dry, but my pants were soaking wet. I clearly needed a larger umbrella.
So the gentleman carrying his large umbrella on that sunny morning wasn’t a surprise, he too, had likely been caught in a sudden downpour that left an impression, but he left an impression on me that day.
We tend to choose to live our lives unprotected. When the sky is blue and sunny, we go about our business blissfully. We give little to thought to rain or storms that may pop up at any time and we get drenched when they inevitably come.
Our spiritual lives are the same. When everything is quiet and still, we often forget to pray; we neglect to read our Bibles or spend quiet time with God. When the rains come, we are unprepared and we find ourselves desperately seeking shelter under just about any overhang we can find believing we may drown.
But, when we seek to walk with Jesus when our skies are still and sunny, our faith grows stronger and larger and we have it with us at all times. When the rains come, we know we won’t drown, we stay focused on Jesus and we are protected.
A man with a large umbrella on a sunny day reminded me that being prepared is always wise both physically and spiritually. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂
Due to a long 4th of July weekend that was punctuated by moving one of my kids out of their college apartment, I have no post today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I hope to see you back here next week.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 😊
I had one single hydrangea bloom this year. It was beautiful and I was thrilled to have it, but I have five hydrangea bushes that were covered in blooms last year, so this year’s crop has been disappointing. I had cut blooms in vases all over my house last year and in a season where there was so much ugliness and a worldwide pandemic had us all at home, those blooms felt like daily well wishes from God.
Forces completely out of my hands reminded me that there was still beauty in the world.
Fast forward a year and I have one single bloom. I fed and watered those hydrangeas just like I did last year. We had a late frost, but I carefully covered them up with sheets for protection. I did my best, yet they didn’t bloom.
If you ever want a lesson in humility, nature is where you will find it. Our culture teaches us if we work hard and do our best, we will always succeed and we tend to buy that lie. Ask any farmer if their hard work guarantees good results. I imagine they will be the first to tell you that a lot of what happens to their crops and even their livestock, is out of their hands. It’s no wonder that the farmers I know are some of the most faithful people I have ever met.
Maybe that’s because faith comes from not knowing what the final outcome will be, but resolving to plant anyway.
We don’t tend to like those odds. We tend to prefer a sure thing and we sometimes even avoid anything that we think is not a sure thing. We convince ourselves that we truly control our destiny and we are devastated when something happens, (and it always will), to remind us we do not. That job loss, or illness, or divorce, shakes us to our core. How could something bad possibly happen when we did everything right?
The truth is, we live in a broken world and bad things happen even when we do our very best. That’s how it is on this side of eternity. But, when we keep our focus on Jesus and walk humbly with God, we are able to weather the storms much more easily, remembering that God loves us and there is a plan even when we can’t see it.
We learn to take life one day at a time, one step at a time and we continue to plant, knowing that the next season just may produce a bumper crop. A lone hydrangea reminded me that even though the outcome is out of my hands, I am called to plant anyway. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂
