Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Dear God,

My heart sank when I couldn't find the old, worn yard fork I used to lift weeds.  I looked everywhere more than once.  Yet, I suspected it was lost among the piles of leaves I had raked the day before.  I finally sat down and allowed the tears to trickle down my cheek.

The fork was my dad's who used it for decades ridding his well-manicured lawn of nasty weeds.  As you know, Lord, Daddy mowed his grass one way and then went back over it another way so not a blade of grass would stand beyond the cut line.  Although he didn't have the credentials, he was a master gardener. His yard was always beautiful, his garden a delight.

As I sat on the ground in a puddle of my own tears, I started singing, "When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.  It is well, (it is well) with my soul, (with my soul); it is well, it is well with my soul." As I looked toward heaven, the sunlight shining on my face, I smiled feeling the assurance of peace knowing that nothing is lost to you.  As I looked backed down and turned my head to the left, I saw the fork propped up next to the trunk of the tree where I had placed it 24 hours earlier to shelter it from the rain.  With hundreds of trees and thousands of leaves to be raked, I was sitting just a few feet away.  What once was lost was now found!

Gracious and Loving God,
your ways
are so
much better
than our own.
When we
are ready
to give up,
you remind us
to try again.
Thank you
for your kindness.

Love, Andrea