Yesterday I was flitting around the kitchen, delivering last minute instructions to a new sitter and gathering various items I would need for the too-many-errands-to-run-in-too-little-time day I was about to embark upon.
Not surprisingly, I was running late.
It’s those moments when I’m behind and feel like I won’t catch-up that make me want to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head in surrender.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Samuel who was watching me with intent, chocolate eyes, taking-in far more than I ever give him credit for.
“Mom,” he said gently.
I turn to find him holding out my open sunglasses. He motions for me to bow my head so he can place them atop – how I wear them almost every waking moment of my life.
It made me stop right there and really look at him. Really see him.
It wasn’t just the gesture of giving me my sunglasses that woke me from the slumber of busy-ness (Being Under Satan’s Yoke).
It was how observant he had been of me, how he knew me so well simply by just watching me and how he could show me such love in that small moment because of it.
As I drove towards my eleven o’clock appointment (just slightly late), it made me think of God.
I have heard people say that God doesn’t care about things like a parking spot in the front when you’ve sprained your ankle or a song that comes on the radio at just the right moment but I don’t agree.
I think God cares about everything we care about. In fact, I think God cares about things we don’t even know to care about.
The Voice translation of Matthew 10:30 illustrates this perfectly:
God knows everything about you, even the number of hairs on your head. So do not fear.
So if you are feeling small today, if you are feeling like what you do doesn’t matter or you aren’t pretty enough or smart enough or anything enough, allow me to remind you . . .
God is in small places. He sees the trivial parts of your heart, the parts you don’t like, and He loves you in spite of it. He knows you so well He knows how many hairs you have on your head.
Do you know how many hairs you have on your head?
Exactly. God knows you better than you know yourself.
Like a hopeless Hagar standing at the well, God sees you.
He sees all of you – the part of you that puts sunglasses on your head. The part of you that nervously tucks a piece of hair behind your ear when you receive a compliment. The furrow of your brow when you believe the lies that you’re screwing-up your kids.
And He cares about it all. Every last little bit.
Even the front-row parking spaces.
Dear Lord, help me to remember how loved I am today. Help me to see you are an awesome God, a God who cares about the big stuff and the little stuff. A God who loves me despite my sin and my less-than-perfect-status. A God who won’t ever stop loving me for any reason and who remains the same as He was yesterday and is today. Thank you for being present in the details. Amen.
Sitting at my computer in tears as read this. So very needed, the simple words and reminder of the truth. I am being pelted and showered by a season of “busyness”, how did I forget this is the time when Satan does his work. About to embark on a month long getaway with my family and realizing that I cannot walk away from my business as planned. Trying to carve out a schedule and pack the files, equipment, etc. I will need to set up my office away from home. I am feeling rushed, and stretched, and like chaos is just raining down all over my world. You speak truth that I needed to hear. A gentle reminder to look at all that is going right, the pieces of the puzzle that are in place and the revealing of how to make it all work. Thanks Natalie for a bit of inspiration on a taxing evening!