Even the Tiniest Graces

After receiving some very special input from my last post (see “comments” underneath the last post), it made me think how important it is to recognize even the tiniest Graces that come into our lives.  Very often, these can be common, normal occurrences; but, just think what your life would be like without them.  I will share a couple examples:

When I was a little girl, my Grandmother would often take me shopping with her.  This was a special treat, which typically meant staying overnight at her home, getting up in the morning and having breakfast with her and heading out for a fun day.  My Grandmother never drove, so we took the bus downtown.  I loved shopping with her – plus, we typically stopped for lunch at a little 1950s coffee shop.  I waited patiently for my Grandmother to order coffee because the waitress would bring a tiny bottle of cream—a miniature milk bottle!  My Grandmother would use what she needed and then let me drink the rest from the tiny bottle.  That memory brings me warmth when I think of those days; and now when I see those little bottles in antique stores, I can smile inside for the Grace that was bestowed upon me.

A more recent experience happened here in the White Mountains of Arizona, where we have really beautiful seasons.  One autumn day, I was looking out the window and golden leaves were beginning to drop.  I wondered what it was like being a leaf—is it exciting to make your last expression on the earth and fall from the tree?  Just at the moment I had that thought, a leaf began to fall from a Gambel Oak Tree outside my window—it literally stopped at eye level to me, spun in a circle a few times, then floated to the ground!  I knew my answer immediately!  That little leaf appeared to be animated with joy!

Lastly, this past weekend, I happened to catch Joel Osteen’s program.  He was talking about the “ingredients” that come into our life – both bitter and sweet.  He shared an analogy of what he taught his children when they were little.  They baked chocolate chip cookies as a family one day – but first – he and his wife set out each of the ingredients and had their children taste them.  Of course, their children were not too pleased to taste flour and baking soda.  His lesson was that sometimes God has us taste the bitterness in life so that we eventually realize that that was only one ingredient that added to the richness of our life.  Just as each of those ingredients, when blended and baked, became yummy cookies, so does our life have ingredients of bitterness and sweetness that, when blended, enrich our life.  The importance is for us to have patience to await God’s plan to come to fruition.  So, when those bitter moments come, know there is a bigger plan that is in the works for God’s beauty to come forth once all the ingredients are blended.  Awaiting the fruition of our life gives us cause to be animated with joy for what’s to come!