Winking

I really love it when God winks at me by sending a lesson my way.

Today provided a ripe example.  Within minutes of the sermon beginning, one titled "God is in Control", Nickels developed a particularly bad case of the hiccups which continued through the end of the service.  The Babe's nose started running to the point that Mike had to rummage through my purse to find him a kleenex.  And Hooman turned to me and whispered "I have to poop.  NOW!"*

Not exactly the best of circumstances under which to take in any talk, much less a sermon on how God knows everything that is going on in our lives and has it all figured out for us, even when it seems to be going willy-nilly.

I listened rather half-heartedly to what Bishop Sutton was saying, catching tidbits in between deep sighs and squirming from Hooman, hiccuping by Nickels, and blowing by The Babe.

I had a moment where I realized that this situation was so much like life in general:  it is the little distractions, that fly around us like annoying mosquitoes, that keep us from truly being able to focus on God.

But, remember, the theme of the morning so far was CONTROL.  Not my control, but God's. 

So, fast forward to Sunday School at our "other" church.  I wasn't two feet in the door when I noticed the scripture of the morning was "Do not let your hearts be troubled" (John 14:1)

I practically stopped dead in my tracks.  For some reason I considered missing the bulk of the sermon so paramount to my walk for the week that I totally lost sight of the idea that missing one, short message wasn't something to fret about.  There were other messages to be had.  Other truths to uncover.  More to life than one fifteen minute talk.

The bulk of the Sunday School message was that Christ taught the disciples, through His time with them, how He loves.  Now, He was asking them to love each other similarly, and to love all neighbors as themselves. (John 13:31-14:3)

In one short hour I realized my entire morning fit together like a perfect puzzle.

Zero control in the midst of a message on God being in control + Frustration with those whom God commanded me to love = this message "HEY!  I love you AND I love those kids AND I am in control even when you can't see it.  Just love, that's it.  Nothing else to worry about in the least."

And I could just see Him standing there, with a huge grin on His face and a twinkle in His eye, with which He would wink at me to let me know "You're my favorite."**

I love that, all the while, He knew exactly what I needed to hear.  He knew the more important message was the connection I'd make between what I partially heard in church and what I heard fully in Sunday School.  He KNEW.  And He choose to allow me in on his little secret.


Sigh.  He's just too much for my soul sometimes.


*To which I reminded him of the cardinal sin of not using the restroom before the service starts.

**And the cool thing is, in that moment, He was doing the same for countless millions of His favorites all around this big world.