Friends
Are your days filled with a series of ordinary moments? Are your days a blur of familiar routines? Perhaps your workdays are a bit frantic, leaving you overwhelmed and frustrated. Your list of tasks seems endless and not without their requisite turmoil.
Maybe, like me, you have long since left the workplace and entered the pleasant phase of retirement. However, I have learned that while you have a clean slate of free time in the retirement years, we tend to fill our time up quite quickly with hobbies, volunteer work, family or friends.. No matter how much time we have on hand, most of us find countless ways to fill up our calendars.
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“Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.”
Psalm 113:2-3 – NIV
I think it’s good to be busy. It’s good to have a purpose for our days. It’s good to have a routine that gets us up and moving.
But like all things in life, there is a downside. When we stay constantly overscheduled, it’s easy to miss the moments we weren’t meant to miss.
I had one of those moments this week, and I almost missed it.
This time of year, I rarely miss a morning stroll through my garden, inspecting each pot and flower bed. It brings me great joy to check out every bright bloom. Perhaps it’s a function of my limited vision, but I love to touch and smell my flowers as much as I enjoy seeing their kaleidoscope of color. I never fail to smile as I run my fingers through the lush green foliage of my favorite plants and shrubs.
But on Friday, I missed my morning stroll, because we met a dear friend for breakfast. Within minutes of stepping through my back door, my father called. I had just hung up the phone when my best friend Tami dropped in, and like always, a two hour catch-up conversation ensued. By the time she left, I had only enough time to shower and change before my afternoon doctor’s appointment.
That’s why I made a point to take a late afternoon stroll through the garden before starting anything else on my to-do list. That’s how an ordinary day became extraordinary.
I was happily making my rounds, talking to each plant, paying compliments for each brilliant bloom, offering words of affirmation to those plants that needed a touch of encouragement. Having surveyed the front of my house, I headed for the backyard, pausing at the triangle bed next to my driveway. Running my fingers through the fabulous fuzzy foliage of my deep purple ageratum, I caught some movement out of the sliver of far peripheral vision I still have left. Turning my head to get a better look, I located the source of the movement. There against the backdrop of a cone flower’s vibrant coral blooms and forest green foliage stood a monarch butterfly in all its glory. Like a model posing at a camera shoot, the butterfly paused, extended its fluorescent yellow and black wings, and stood stock still. It remained there for at least thirty seconds, content to sample the single bloom. With a gentle flap of its shiny wings, it then skipped over to the adjacent bloom, striking a new pose as if to say, “Check out this angle!” Another few seconds passed before it hopped over to the next bloom, ensuring I had yet another view of its magnificent wingspan.
The beautiful butterfly made a 360 degree tour of the entire plant, fluttering its tiny wings only two feet from the toe of my flip flop. It wasn’t a bit bothered by my presence. It was as if it had come with the express purpose of showing off just for me.
My right hand nestled in the violet ageratum, my body bent at the waist, I stood frozen in time, afraid to move, barely breathing, lest I break the spell of that magical moment. I was simply awestruck, stunned by the majesty of God’s splendor, absolutely mesmerized by this tiny creature fluttering among my precious flowers.
Having made its circuit of the cone flower, the monarch butterfly fluttered up, then dipped in the air in a graceful bow before flying away, its star moment on the stage complete. I had no time for applause, but it had no need of it. The butterfly had captured the moment, accomplishing what it came for.
One word poured forth from my lips, “Wow!” My heart swelled as my lips moved on to lift a grateful prayer of thanksgiving. I praised God in that moment, because I knew full well that He had sent that butterfly, just for me, just to make me smile, just to bless me.
All I could think in that moment was, “This is grace. This is the essence of grace.” I had done nothing to deserve that amazing spectacle. I had not earned that moment by any good work on my part. No, God chose to bless me because He loves me. God graced me with an exquisite example of His marvelous creation because He wanted to make me smile. He wanted me to pause in wonder and praise, and I most certainly did.
I have no picture to record the moment, but I have the memory. Even better, I have the certainty of God’s unfailing love for me. I know a God who can take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. I know a God who can transform a mundane moment into a miracle. Friend, so do you. Our God stands ready to bless us if we will cultivate a heart to receive the tiny blessings He sends our way each day.
Friends, let this magical moment remind us both to slow down and savor. We surely don’t want to miss the little gifts of grace God has in store for us with the dawn of each new day.
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“The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,”
Psalm 113:4-5 – NIV
PRAYER
O Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us so much that You would choose to bless us, not because we deserve it, but because You delight in making us smile. Thank You for Your amazing creation, for the majesty of the natural world. Lord, let us slow down and savor the moments . Let us not miss all the ways You take the ordinary and bring forth the extraordinary.
In the Majestic Name of Jesus, we pray,
Amen
Blessings,
Anita
-APS 8/7/2023
Faith Beyond Sight 