My two little ones were sitting at the long kitchen table, working on their letters and their school work for the morning. I quietly listened to their little conversation as I pulled up a kitchen chair to join them.
“Lavender, do you know where God is?” asked the elder daughter, a tone of authority in her older sister voice. She firmly gripped her pencil and continued her work an even flow.
My now-five-year-old Lavender nodded her head, her dark braid bouncing,
“Yup, out there,” she said, pointing her pencil towards the back yard.
“He’s EVERY WHERE, Lavender,” replied Leia, eyebrows raised. This daughter recently had a birthday and “grew up” and was obviously feeling quite important in this conversation. “Out there, in here, all over.”
She continued coloring, tracing her letters and working on her penmanship.
I listened from my side of the table and smiled.
These past few weeks have been fast and filled with lovely, happy memories being made (three birthdays in our immediate family), extended family celebrations and plain ol’ living … cleaning out gardens, raking, planting seeds and a few flowering trees with hopes for a beautiful spring.
In contrast, there also has been a lot of evil happening in the world – a lot of bad things happening to good people, even just down the street. I rarely check the news in order to keep my mind of all that is good and lovely, but when I do, I am saddened to read the headlines.
However, here in our little home, with all our children running around, drinking in the spring sunshine and watching life unfold and bloom on our little piece of property, we try to see God in everything.
As a family, every night we have been praying for a dear friend and mother of eight who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer — but in just a few weeks, God has turned things around and she is healing and recovering so much faster than the doctors ever imagined. That is God. We see Him.
In my humble surroundings, I see God at work everyday, as my little ones pray and ask Jesus to forgive them for their sins, when my husband returns home safely from work – arms full of groceries for our growing family …
We feel His presence and we know He is taking care of us. And we are grateful that we serve a Saviour, a God that will take care of the weak and broken, even in our modern society of false self-help and assurance – if only we ask.
The spring night was balmy and the sun was warm. We headed out to the front yard with shovels, eight happy children and eight straggling tree seedlings.
The children each received a free ‘baby tree’ this week for Earth Day. We waited for daddy to come home from work and we planted them together as a family along our driveway. It will be years before we see their growth, if they live, but we are hopeful.
During the supper cleanup, my 15 year old daughter loves to hear this song playing in the background. It is a favorite of ours and I love that the words encourage her to see God in the every day moments.
We see God, here in this home, every day.
I See Him
I hear people putting God down
Saying that when they look around
All they see are the bad things heading their way
We’ll I’ll admit that watching the news
Can sure give a person a case of the blues
But it’s all in where you look for him each day
‘Cause I see him in the seeds I grow
I hear him in the rooster’s crow
I feel him when my husband’s hand is in mine
I taste him in the meals I make
I smell him in the bread I bake
When I look around I don’t have to wonder where he’ll be
I see him in you
And I hope you see him in me
There was a time when hard as I looked
In the pews of the church or the words of the book
I couldn’t find him
I didn’t know where to start
But then one morning I realized
He’s been right there in front of my eyes
But I couldn’t see him until I looked with my heart
Now I see him in the seeds I grow
I hear him in the rooster’s crow
I feel him when my children’s hands are in mine
I taste him in the meals I make
I smell him in the bread I bake
When I look around I don’t have to wonder where he’ll be
I see him in you
And I hope you see him in me.
by Gigi
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