Moments. The bad ones seem to go so painfully slow that we beg for them to pass, and the best of moments go so quickly we beg for them to freeze in time. The most mundane of moments don't even get much of a thought from us. But yet these moments, good, bad, or indifferent, are literally what make up our lives. Simple seconds of time tell our entire stories. And this morning, I feel like God is really laying on my heart just how important these tiny snippets of time can be.
Often, my daughter Kennady will spend some time with her grandparents after school, a dance rehearsal, or, in her current situation, physical therapy session, simply because she loves them and because they are AMAZING at helping out this single mom with life. Yesterday was one of those days, but it seemed to be heading into the direction of those moments that you really need to just pass.
See, my mom and Kennady had this weird day, that had potential to become one of those "terrible, no-good, very bad days". I didn't ask permission to share the story of my mom and her new glasses, so I will save it for another time. I am not about to get myself in trouble! But I can tell you this part of their day...
Kennady and Mom had decided to make cupcakes with homemade frosting. (Her frosting is DELICIOUS). They were having a lovely time, until the cupcake tins filled with batter tipped over on the way into the oven. From the description I was given, this was a mess that surpassed ALL MESSES. The batter ran everywhere, including in and under the bottom drawer of the oven. Clean up was this giant process, where once they figured out how to scoop up the globs of batter from inside the stove, they had lots of scrubbing to do, EVERYWHERE. And on their knees, which is not so great for Mom or for Kennady, but they got the job done.
But none of this actual story is what I was hearing as they laughingly retold their day. I just heard all of this love, and fun, and LOTS of laughter. I heard pride in my mom's voice as she told how well Kennady responded to the situation and worked so hard to help her keep calm and clean it up. and I thought about all of the time they had spent, side by side, giggling at their mess and talking away. These crazy, messy, moments had just created a precious memory for them. One that could never have been planned and had you asked them if they wanted that moment in advance, I guarantee they would have turned it down flat. God shows up in our random, messy, every day moments.
God also shows up in moments of delay if we will watch for Him too. A couple of years ago, I had the joy of a free day with Noah and a rental car that we loved, so road trip it was! We had a great day, and ended up at Bartlett lake exploring. As we were heading out, on the only rode you could use, there was a motorcycle accident that took place just minutes before we pulled up. The road was temporarily going to have to be closed, as they needed to call in a helicopter to aid the injured cyclist. Of course our hearts went out to this man and his family, and we prayed together for them and the responders. That moment with my son, seeing his empathy, was a special one. But as the wait became longer, it became harder to be so patient. We were hungry and thirsty, and had to keep reminding ourselves how blessed we were to be healthy and alive. We had had to turn our car around and go back, so we parked and began to simply enjoy our surroundings. We walked around, talked, and took great pictures, including this one with the hawk that had caught a snake. I happened to capture it at just the right moment. We easily could have allowed frustration dampen our moods that day, its usually how we both get when we are stuck. But God used that delay to give us extended time together that was incredibly special.
Sometimes, it is in missed moments that God is actually moving. We have all been through the hurt and disappointments, when something we were planning for, looking forward to, or counting on, falls apart. It frustrates us, sometimes hurts us, and we don't' understand why we had to miss out on "our moment". Recently, Kennady has gone through several "missed moments", one of the most hurtful being prom night. She had really looked forward to this fun night, after months of injuries and illness, this 16 year old needed a break! Everything seemed to be heading in the right direction. She had a friend who asked to be her date for the evening, we found an absolutely gorgeous (and affordable!) dress, the perfect Cinderella shoes, and she even worked hard enough in PT to get off of her crutches for the night. But the week of prom, her friend had to cancel (for a sincere reason), and all of her friends already had dates. The perfect dress stayed hanging in the closet, the shoes unworn. And Kennady felt so disappointed, we couldn't even talk about it. But we had prayed about that night, and asked God for his perfect plan for that evening. So underneath the hurt, we had to believe that God had something else for her. We may never know they why, but we know that God could have been protecting her from harm, or it could be that he was building her faith and strength in Him. We do know for absolute certain that He cares about her heart, and He knew what was coming in her very near future. Tonight, Kennady has a very special evening planned for her, one we didn't know was coming her way, and she will get to put on a beautiful dress, and incredible shoes, and feel like a princess, while spending time with someone who also cares about her heart. She may have missed prom, but she did not miss her very own special moment that will tomorrow be a precious memory.
God knows the moments of delay, the horrible moments of pain, and those moments we missed. And He was with us each and every second, and He will restore to us what we have "lost". We see moments as seconds, becoming minutes, becoming days. But, God, he sees so much bigger than us. He sees our moments with purpose and grand plans, so we don't ever need to fear that He would be absent from a single one.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16
Often, my daughter Kennady will spend some time with her grandparents after school, a dance rehearsal, or, in her current situation, physical therapy session, simply because she loves them and because they are AMAZING at helping out this single mom with life. Yesterday was one of those days, but it seemed to be heading into the direction of those moments that you really need to just pass.
See, my mom and Kennady had this weird day, that had potential to become one of those "terrible, no-good, very bad days". I didn't ask permission to share the story of my mom and her new glasses, so I will save it for another time. I am not about to get myself in trouble! But I can tell you this part of their day...
Kennady and Mom had decided to make cupcakes with homemade frosting. (Her frosting is DELICIOUS). They were having a lovely time, until the cupcake tins filled with batter tipped over on the way into the oven. From the description I was given, this was a mess that surpassed ALL MESSES. The batter ran everywhere, including in and under the bottom drawer of the oven. Clean up was this giant process, where once they figured out how to scoop up the globs of batter from inside the stove, they had lots of scrubbing to do, EVERYWHERE. And on their knees, which is not so great for Mom or for Kennady, but they got the job done.
God also shows up in moments of delay if we will watch for Him too. A couple of years ago, I had the joy of a free day with Noah and a rental car that we loved, so road trip it was! We had a great day, and ended up at Bartlett lake exploring. As we were heading out, on the only rode you could use, there was a motorcycle accident that took place just minutes before we pulled up. The road was temporarily going to have to be closed, as they needed to call in a helicopter to aid the injured cyclist. Of course our hearts went out to this man and his family, and we prayed together for them and the responders. That moment with my son, seeing his empathy, was a special one. But as the wait became longer, it became harder to be so patient. We were hungry and thirsty, and had to keep reminding ourselves how blessed we were to be healthy and alive. We had had to turn our car around and go back, so we parked and began to simply enjoy our surroundings. We walked around, talked, and took great pictures, including this one with the hawk that had caught a snake. I happened to capture it at just the right moment. We easily could have allowed frustration dampen our moods that day, its usually how we both get when we are stuck. But God used that delay to give us extended time together that was incredibly special.
Sometimes, it is in missed moments that God is actually moving. We have all been through the hurt and disappointments, when something we were planning for, looking forward to, or counting on, falls apart. It frustrates us, sometimes hurts us, and we don't' understand why we had to miss out on "our moment". Recently, Kennady has gone through several "missed moments", one of the most hurtful being prom night. She had really looked forward to this fun night, after months of injuries and illness, this 16 year old needed a break! Everything seemed to be heading in the right direction. She had a friend who asked to be her date for the evening, we found an absolutely gorgeous (and affordable!) dress, the perfect Cinderella shoes, and she even worked hard enough in PT to get off of her crutches for the night. But the week of prom, her friend had to cancel (for a sincere reason), and all of her friends already had dates. The perfect dress stayed hanging in the closet, the shoes unworn. And Kennady felt so disappointed, we couldn't even talk about it. But we had prayed about that night, and asked God for his perfect plan for that evening. So underneath the hurt, we had to believe that God had something else for her. We may never know they why, but we know that God could have been protecting her from harm, or it could be that he was building her faith and strength in Him. We do know for absolute certain that He cares about her heart, and He knew what was coming in her very near future. Tonight, Kennady has a very special evening planned for her, one we didn't know was coming her way, and she will get to put on a beautiful dress, and incredible shoes, and feel like a princess, while spending time with someone who also cares about her heart. She may have missed prom, but she did not miss her very own special moment that will tomorrow be a precious memory.
God knows the moments of delay, the horrible moments of pain, and those moments we missed. And He was with us each and every second, and He will restore to us what we have "lost". We see moments as seconds, becoming minutes, becoming days. But, God, he sees so much bigger than us. He sees our moments with purpose and grand plans, so we don't ever need to fear that He would be absent from a single one.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16
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