God With Us: Sweet Nothings

 

Have you ever noticed something in your surroundings that could easily be passed over as insignificant, but somehow means a great deal to you in the moment? Like a flower in a thorn bush, or a familiar shape in the clouds - something slightly out of place, enough to catch your attention or even speak directly to your heart? I’ve perceived a great deal of these lately, and have come to regard them as “sweet nothings” from my Heavenly Father. 

From all of the (literally sweet) natural things we’ve come across - blackberries in Oregon, wild peas in Washington, huckleberries and mint leaves in Montana, pine nuts in Utah and dates in California - to the wonderful and surprising finds for the kids, like a play museum on a covered bridge market and an enormous playground in Auburn, AL (when our morale needed serious boosting), it has been evident to me that God cares about the little things and enjoys giving good gifts to his children. Whether it’s something for our enjoyment and entertainment, or just a delightful reminder of His presence, God leaves us the best little love notes to find throughout our day. 

Now, as a momma of four, my greatest joys often stem from the things that bring my kids true joy. There have been many times over the past few months of traveling (and before that) that we have been “surprised by joy,” and I have a plethora of stories I could share on this topic, but I’ll stick with two memorable examples for the sake of brevity. These are two times that God has provided an oasis in the desert, a happy escape and an enriching way to pass the time when we were stuck with less-than-ideal circumstances. 

The Baseball Field: Cell phone coverage and internet service are a hit-or-miss when traveling, and often we’re without sufficient service when we boon-dock. The reservoir we stayed on in Montana was no different, and we had to make a few express trips back down the long, washboard dirt road to find coverage. On our second trip into town for internet, I searched for a park or a playground or a play place or something for the kids so they wouldn’t have to sit in the truck and get “plugged in” to a movie just so mom and dad could get some work accomplished. It was a very small town with no commercial fast food joints and no big-name gas station or even a chain grocery store. I found nothing, not even a sidewalk or bike path for us to venture down. Justin found a parking spot by a closed-down/empty outdoor pool and we commenced our work. I was feeling really guilty that everyone was cooped up, but Justin still had lots to do, so I decided to get the kids out of the truck and take a walk anyway. We didn’t have to go a whole block before we ran into a baseball field, right behind the building we were parked at! We had just been on this street parked at the local school the first time we came to town, yet none of us took any notice of the field before. And just as we were lamenting the fact that we had no ball to play with, one of the kids spotted a lone baseball in the dugout, so we tried out playing catch. I was trying to think of clever ways to play the game and keep it fun for all (Ellia - my 2-year old - preferred snoozing on 3rd base to playing a game that required coordination), when Dezi discovered a single bat on the opposing team’s bench. We spent the next hour playing the most fun pickup game of baseball ever, with borrowed equipment on a run-down field in the middle of nowhere. Better yet, we had recently watched the movie “The Sandlot,” so baseball was still fresh in our minds as a fun pastime. Could we have found somewhere else to take a walk? Sure. Could we have found ways to stay entertained without the ball and bat? We usually do. But the way everything was provided for us and came perfectly together just had the Lord’s awesome signature all over it, and it turned out to be an afternoon to remember. 

The Neighborhood Library: Something even better than the baseball field came along a few weeks later, when we were back in Colorado Springs taking care of appointments and things. As we finished up a visit to the dentist, Justin had an oil change to take care of at the same time Dezi had a doc appt. Because of the distance, timing, and the fact that we only had one vehicle between us, Dezi and I had to be dropped off about an hour and a half early and hope to get in early. The nice receptionist gave him a lollipop and a sticker, but said we had other patients before us. Being that Dezi is only 3 years old and already had to do some waiting at the dentist, I didn’t want to make him sit in the waiting room (with no books or toys) for that amount of time (and again, I’m not one to hand over the electronics that easily). So, we went outside for a walk, though it wasn’t very pedestrian-friendly being mostly a medical office building area. We found a narrow sidewalk that led to a walking path which branched off in 4 different directions. I attempted, once again, to look on my Maps for a playground or to see at least where each of the paths led to, but any fun-looking park area was just too far away for us to walk to and back again in the time that we had. Feeling a little defeated, I chose a path that led a little ways into a neighborhood that would eventually pop us back out near the doc’s office. I had a granola bar for us to share and told Dezi to keep walking until we found a good place to sit and enjoy our snack and his lollipop treat. Just as we were talking about finding a bench, we came across a Little Free Library stand and decided to look for a book. Not finding any good reading material for his age group, I then noticed a sign pointing down the sidewalk toward “more titles”, which led us not only to a perfect little bench, but the quaintest, most delightful setup of a sidewalk library I’ve ever seen. There was a whole armoire with shelves of books organized by reading age, painted white with clear doors and a cute flashing OPEN sign. I’ve never even considered such a setup, but what an incredible way to serve your neighbors! It was the best little place to sit, snack and read while we waited. Out of all the ways we could have walked and houses we could have ended up in front of, it seemed this one was prepared just for us, specifically for this time. It was such a small thing, but we are so thankful to the kind people who took the time to set all that up for others to enjoy, because it was just what we needed (though we would never have thought to ask for)!

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights…” James 1:17