Impromptu at the breakfast nook

I had been reluctant.  I hadn’t relished the thought of arriving 2 hours early for my husband to rehearse some music.  Where would I go while he was busy?  The hallways were quiet, and our jovial greeter at the side door was absent this day.  I chose to study at the empty breakfast nook, just for something different.  My notes on Matthew 5 fell open onto the table (and I do mean that literally because all the extra papers I’ve tucked into my Bible have left its seams on the verge of explosion), and so I took a moment to rearrange.  As the morning progressed, hallway traffic picked up speed.  From a distance, I saw a friend to whom we usually offer a ride as he’s walking the road from the bus stop.  I called out as he entered the building, “Hey, we looked for you earlier!  Sorry we didn’t get to give you a ride.”  “That’s all right,” he said, and given that this hallway today was different from where we usually see each other, he stopped to ask what I was doing.  I explained about Matthew 5 and about teaching, and he asked, “Are you nervous?”  “No,” I answered, “I love sharing stories of the Lord, and I love our class.”  And from that point of connection, the Lord proceeded to bless the 2 of us with some wonderful conversation.  And it wasn’t just one blessing, for in the process of all our talk, the Lord gave multiple new insights for teaching that day, even supplying the thrill of seeing Him orchestrate the whole encounter.  Our empty breakfast nook had blossomed into hosting 2 hours that were filled to the brim with joy, and I smiled to see how the thought of “something different” that led me to the nook in the first place was far more than casual notion.  What seems impromptu in our minds, the Lord has known all along.

A plain cardboard job that dazzles

It was an occupation my friend had said she’d never do.  The idea in itself simply never seemed attractive.  Even more unappealing was the fact that my friend’s weird relative who connected her with this new job would become her daily co-worker.  Yet upon asking the Lord to provide, it was this one part-time role in home healthcare that landed in my friend’s lap, and as she explained to me recently the intriguing chain of events, I smiled to listen.  From the onset, she didn’t welcome the notion of surrendering her time with her children.  She had been reluctant too to relinquish her love of homeschooling.  Yet importantly, she allowed room for however the Lord might use her to supplement her family’s finances.  And that’s when the cardboard box arrived at her door.  On the outside, it looked plain and uneventful and even unpleasant.  On the inside, some wonderfully colorful shapes and sizes were about to be unpacked.  In the earliest days, my friend realized half of her on-duty hours would likely include sleep time for her elderly patient, consequently allowing her a little breathing room as she entered this whole environment she’d perceived as unattractive.  She soon saw also that her children could travel with her sometimes to help mow the elderly man’s grass or maybe just freshen his household with a sweet youthful grin.  She continues to witness day to day the gradual unveiling of some fascinating facets of this man’s 80+ years of life.  Evidently he did some designing in New York, and he's lived in various parts of the U.S., and still she's waiting for the right time to ask about this steamboat photo she's curious about and perhaps some elements of European history.  Altogether my friend's recent walk with the Lord has proved to be quite scenic.  All from within that plain cardboard box labeled healthcare that figuratively arrived at her front door, a wide array of colorful blessings continues to pour out.  And as all these parts work together under the umbrella of broadened perspective, my friend has been blessed too by the daily association with her particular family member she no longer considers weird.  All the more how I love the Lord for blessing my friend and for inspiring us all with a fresh look at the grace He offers every day.

Detoured in Target

Roadblocks and detours often frustrate the day.  Last week, actually, I met up with a detour that was amazingly fun.  The meeting place was Target, in particular a Target store situated between my friend’s house and mine.  We live across town from each other, and on this morning we chose to meet in the middle, as she knew this Target had a quaint little cove behind the coffee counter.  And it was wonderful.  Sitting near the big windows, we enjoyed the coziness inside while watching the rain pouring outside.  We sat there for hours, and in the course of lots of topics, we laughed and cried, and the Lord bestowed many blessings.  We opened our Bibles, and we listened and talked, and I didn’t even realize some of the blessings until about 1:30, when I had to leave for the doctor.  Little did I know that my dermatologist would end up biopsying 2 spots, yet I felt no anxiety in the process.  I credit the calmness to all our laughing and crying having cleansed me earlier, leaving no ground for anxiety to build.  But then came another chapter in the story.  That night by phone, my friend told me she stayed at our coffee cove for another hour after I left.  All that morning, there had been a lady sitting near us, and she glanced toward our table occasionally.  In that hour after I left, she came to ask my friend about the Lord and about studying the Bible.  Man, I wanted to jump out of my skin!  My heart leaped into a dance even as I had to stand still to talk on the phone!  That whole morning, the Lord had been guiding our conversation down a wonderful road we didn’t even realize.  The longer I pondered, the better I understood what had happened in the parking lot.  I remember saying goodbye and pointing to my friend at the table and telling her that we would talk soon.  Putting the key in the car, I wondered why I had assumed my friend would stay at the table.  Why didn’t she just walk out with me?  Yet now I knew the Lord held her feet.  Essentially He roadblocked her feet and detoured her to stay and talk to the lady.  The whole scenario showed again how the Lord orchestrates our movements and conversations.  And still today I smile to think how He steered us onto those second and third roads of blessing so effortlessly.  All we knew was joy in the process.

Volleyball & Jesus

What can the Lord do with the game of volleyball?  My friend tells a story that takes the game far beyond spikes, serves, and blocks.  She tells of her husband serving as videographer for their 2 daughters’ club team.  Recently her husband prepared to show the team a video of a past game, but somehow the video wouldn’t work.  Somehow the bells and whistles inside the laptop wouldn’t let the video play, and at that point, I imagine the team dismissing from their huddle in disappointment.  The coach opted for a new plan of action and asked one of my friend’s daughters to select some music from her iPod as background for practice.  And that’s where the fun began.  The only music available on the iPod was Christian music, and so the gym suddenly became witness to the name of Jesus being sung up into the rafters.  Amidst all the voices that called and yelled on the practice court that day, the hallowed name of the Lord weaved in and around them all.  What wonderful testament to the idea of readiness that's mentioned in 1 Peter 3:15, saying, “. . . Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have . . . with gentleness and respect.”  In this case, a young Believer stood ready in the midst of an ordinary volleyball practice, and in the course of answering her coach’s request for music, the name of the Lord was celebrated into the open air.  All those months ahead when my friend asked us to pray about volleyball for her family, never was the issue actually only volleyball.  With the Lord, any single circumstance holds capacity for so much more.  And still now I pray for the words and melodies sung during that volleyball session to continue to stir among the team and their coach and all who would hear.