In June, after we'd gotten back from Disney World, Molly and I rode our bikes down to the post office to get our mail. We stopped at a park on the way back home. As I stood there watching Molly climb up the tower and go down the slide, I was in a bit of a daze. Vacations take a lot out of you--one of the items on my list titled "Way more fun as the kid, not so much as the Mom", along with Christmas and swimming lessons--and a week in Disney pretty much wipes you out.
As I was standing there, someone approached the park with 3 dogs on leashes. As they walked through the field of tall grass, all of a sudden the dogs were lost, and instead, 12 legs were up in the air, moving around wilding. The dogs had all dropped together to roll around in the tall, wet, grass.
The owner tried to move them along, pulling them on the leashes. And they went along for a few steps, but then all of a sudden again, they all 3 hit the ground and began rolling around. It was pretty funny to watch! The dancing feet in the air and wiggling bodies. I teased their owner that he'd never get out of the grass and back home! He explained that on hot days like today would be, they love the cool, wet grass to roll around in.
Eventually he moved them on, and as they walked off on their way, instead of feeling dazed, I somehow now felt more energetic, and had a smile on my face. Molly had seen the scene too, and we talked about it on the ride home. Wishing we were those dogs right about then, as we biked up the hill in the sun to our house--we could use a good roll in wet, cool, grass!
I found myself thinking back on those crazy dogs later in the day too, as I moved laundry through and unpacked suitcases. Smiling to myself about those 12 feet in the air and wondering how much a roll in the grass tickles...
We caught some sort of bug that caused tonsillitis through our travels in early summer, and spent a week recovering after we got home from Iowa at the end of June. During that week, Molly went with me grocery shopping. Which, I'm seeing that no matter how old your child is, it's still harder with them along. And since I was still half sick, I wasn't in a great mood on the way home when we passed the golf course we drive by everyday.
Just as we were going by, a golfer must have missed his put and was obviously upset, taking out his frustration with his club as he whacked the ground. Molly and I both saw it together and laughed. Molly saying, "I guess he's having a bad day too!".
Now I know, I know, we shouldn't take pleasure in another's misfortune. But that afternoon, it was just the thing to break our bad mood. Remind us that we aren't the only one in the world having a bad day, and give us a laugh.
And so as the summer rolled on, Molly and I have been trying to notice things like these each day. While we are going about our lives, wherever we are, we try to find things that make us smile, bring us joy, make us feel better. We point it out when it happens, "that's my thing of the day!". And its amazing how many days we find them. How often little things that so easily go unnoticed jump out at you when you're looking for them.
There is a field by Molly's school that once the snow had melted this spring, I watched fill in with weeds. By the time school was winding down the weeds were getting pretty tall, and I commented on how they ought to mow it, it would look so much nicer.
But this summer, that same field of weeds, is now an ocean of purple flowers! Almost at the same time when we drove past the school recently we both said, "whoa--look! That field is now purple!"
We pulled over to get a better look, and take it all in. Stopping to smell the flowers--literally! And it made us smile.
Now that we're looking, on a different trip, Molly pointed out a tree growing out of the top of an old grain bin. We both thought that was pretty unusual, something funny to see. You don't see that everyday! It looks like a tall skinny pineapple Molly said.
And that was our "thing" of that day.
A volunteer pumpkin vine which grew from the remains of our smushy pumpkins we didn't remove soon enough last fall has been something I'm really enjoying each day. You all know how much I loved my garden in Austin, Minnesota, but since our moves I haven't had another one. I was kind of sad about that again this spring, as I was green with garden-envy, seeing other people's plants sprout up in my neighborhood. Then one day I saw this tiny pumpkin plant. God gave me something to tend after all! What a gift.
I'm watching it get longer and longer, and have nice big yellow flowers. No pumpkins yet, but everyday I check!
Now I know I've wrote about the little things of life before. It is something I point to as how we got through 2016, when Drew was in treatment. Choosing joy, finding reasons to be thankful, appreciating the little things--is nothing new from me. But I need routine reminders, and maybe you do too. Teaching the practice to my daughter this summer, has reinforced the habit in me, and reminded me just how important it is to slow down and look around.
Because it's through these small things that we see God's love for us. He cares about our everyday struggles, and he can fulfill us in ways we don't expect, if we are just open to them. Once we slow down, and are intentional about seeing all the gifts He brings into our lives, we will be filled with joy. And that joy leads to gratitude. Which will then strengthen our trust in a God who loves us and cares for us in the everyday things, and who surely will be with us and see us through the big things in life too.
And big things continue to come. While the summer has really been a good one for us, and 2021 as a whole is much better than last year, tragedies happen everyday that threaten to take away our joy.
A close friend experienced a huge, unexpected, tragedy in their family at the beginning of this month. One that turned their whole world upside down and will change the course of their lives, or at least the course they thought their lives would follow, forever. My heart breaks for my friend and her boys. For the shock and sorrow they are enduring. For the many challenges and struggles they will now face. For the weight of grief to be carried for a lifetime that I know all too well.
I found myself more mad about this tragedy than I expected. Why do these kind of things have to happen to people, just trying their best in life? Why should children have to deal with the loss of someone they love so dearly and need so much in their life? It's just not fair, and feels so wrong...
Somehow I didn't feel this way about our own tragedy as much. I had other hard feelings to be sure, but not a lot of anger. Maybe when it was our loss, I felt like I had to stay focused. For Molly, but also for myself. Giving into feeling sorry for myself or letting anger take up space in my broken heart didn't seem productive.
But when it's someone else, a dear friend, I guess I can get angry for them. Turning to God with hard questions--Why aren't you doing anything about this? Why do you watch as people die, and families are thrown into grief and pain? Don't You care? My mind added up all the families I know who are struggling with very real problems. People--children--enduring physical, and also emotional pain every day, with no end seemingly in sight. It shouldn't be this way, I thought as tears have rolled down my hot cheeks a number of times this month.
And I feel like God let me sit like that for a little while. Didn't reprimand me, try to explain to me, or talk me out of being mad. He just patiently let me be angry, and seemed to listen with the caring heart of the Good Father.
And when I was ready, He ever so gently reminded me of the Truth.
He does care, very, very much. It kills him as much as it does us, even more so!, to see his children suffer. No, this wasn't the way it was suppose to be, not His plan for creation. And He did do something about it. For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to SAVE us all from all this ugliness, grief, and pain. The answer to all our prayers is "yes" in Jesus, who paid the ultimate price to redeem us from this pit of despair.
It's good news! Yes this world is terrible and unfair, but it will all be made right, some day. Families will be reunited, bodies will be healed, pain and sorrow won't ever be a thing again. We just have to wait. Have faith in Him.
And you know how we know all of this? How we can see that it's all true and that we can rely on Him? In the little things. Every day He shows us His love, encourages us in subtle but powerful ways. He gives us pumpkin vines, fields of purple from weeds, and 12 dog feet dancing in the air to remind us that He loves us so much, and cares about our colds and bad moods. So how much more does he care about the big things? The really hard stuff? Even more so.
That's why the everyday matters. Why the enemy tries so hard to keep us distracted and cynical of the little things in life. Because each and every smile we get from the small gifts God gives us adds up to a joy deep in our hearts that goes beyond circumstances. So when circumstances take a turn for the worst, when the going gets tough as they say, we still hold on to and believe in the love and joy we find all around us. It causes gratitude, that leads to trust and gives us hope. And that trust and hope will carry us over the mountains in our lives.
If I ever need more reinforcement on this, I just have to look back on the life of my Drew. A life marked with joy and filled with trust. Was it because he felt great all the time? That he got to do everything he wanted to do? Certainly not. He was at the center of some of the worst circumstances I hope to ever be a part of. Some of the things I watched being done to him, the results of treatment on and in his body, still make me sick to think about. My poor baby boy...
But he had a God-given ability to find the joy, wherever he was. To cheer others up, when he was the one who was down. He fully enjoyed the little things, and made the most of each of his days.
He will inspire me for the rest of my life.
So here's to the little things, that are really big things. To joy and hope, even in tragedy. To friendship that holds each other up, as we take turns being pushed down. Until the day when all is made right,
and justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream 💗
