Holy Spirit Garden Salad

God, bless the woman who came to my door today...

I woke up this morning... did I ever go to sleep tihs morning? I went to work about 9:30pm and didn't get back until 7:40-something in the morning... Anywasy, I woke up this morning to a knock at my door. Thinking it was somebody from down the street, I went to answer it. It was a woman I'd never seen before. She was holding a bag. She said she was giving something on behalf of her church, but I don't think she knew about my mother's passing or anything; it seemed to be a random act. As she passed me the bag, I saw it had vegetables for salad in it. How did she know?! My aunt was just asking me if I had any salad-type vegetables the other day! Before she left, she mentioned that she had left a book in the bag. "Oh goodie... Jehovah's Witnesses again? Well... a blessing's a blessing..."

Turns out, she wasn't Jehovah's Witnesses after all. She was a Christian like me. And that book she left me... well, there's no doubt that God is hearing me in my distress. It talked about some very basic, but not so basic Christian ideals. One in particular was the subject of "Rejoicing in the Lord".

From reading some of my earlier posts, obviously I haven't been having a blast recently. I've been angry, sad, disappointed, confused, lonely, standoffish, fatigued; you can fill in the rest. But in this book I was reminded that, in spite of it, God is still good. Now you know that even I'm not satisfied with a simple cliche answer like that, so lemme delve a little bit deeper:

My mom is gone; my family is closer, my dad is still alive, my sister is still alive. My new job is hard and goes from 10pm to 6am; I have income, I have a job, I have mobility, I have gas money, I have new friends, I reunited with old friends. My feet hurt and I bruised my friggin knee; I can still walk, I have time to rest and heal, and I'm getting beaucoup exercise.

See? It's all perspective. My cup isn't quite full all the time, but it's never empty. God is good.

I gotta be careful and remember that when I'm discouraged I can discourage others too (oh you didn't know? Christian life is a spectator sport...). Maybe it's not all peaches and cream but, as the book said, why dwell on the briar patches in the flower garden: especially when the briars are in the minority? I've been giving too much press to Satan, so I apologize for that.

And no, I'm not saying it's wrong to feel pain. But the key is how you deal with it. You're supposed to give it to God. And when you don't think that'll make you feel any better, as I usually do, you give it to Him anyway, then make like Junior Jack and Trust It. And when you least expect it, while you're playing hookie from church because you got off work late, He sends a little old lady with an accent to renew your spirit.

Bon AppetiteB-J