Scattered Thoughts

My first thought as I stepped outside for my morning walk was, "Lord, You have blessed me beyond anything that I deserve or have a right to expect." I love where I live. We are in a little neighborhood, but it's kind of out in the country. It's only 8 minutes away from Ron's work, but the drive is beautiful, especially with the fall colors revealing themselves more each day. I have neighbors that very occasionally I'll see as I walk, but usually it's me, a glorious panorama, and a few animals. There's a valley that slips into view on the other side of a tree line. A grassy path has butterflies flitting along, despite the chilly morning air. If I get up early enough, I watch the sun rise over the eastern horizon, filling the sky with muted pinks and golds.

As I walk, my thoughts and words ramble. I'll be in the middle of a request to God, and catch sight of that valley framed by the turning trees. Immediately I'm reminded that the very creation declare the handiwork of its Maker, and I too am awed into praise. Then my thoughts go to, "Where was I? Oh yeah. Lord please walk with Ron this day...."

As I came to the end of our housing area today, I walked up a little rise that leads to the main road. I glanced across the street, and staring at me was this huge white horse, behind a fence. He watched me the whole approach, with eyes that seemed to hold the mysteries of time. I stared at him, thinking how odd this horse was. The field he stood in, reminded me of the passage in Matthew about the lilies of the field, how they neither toil nor spin, but even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. I saw no lilies, only this white horse. He wasn't doing too much toiling either, and he certainly was glorious. He watched me until I turned around. When I glance back, he had left, meandering to the other side the field.

I thought back to what I had been praying over before I saw this creature, sustained and cared for by a God who knows the number of hairs on his head as well as mine.

My furniture.

We have not yet received the bulk of our household goods. This week I finally was able to track them down. It will be November 20 before we get them.

Here's the thing though. God's hand is in the big things. God's hand is in the little things. Four years ago we moved to Germany from Hawaii. We were told that we would have a small house, and we needed to leave some of ours things in storage (that turned out not be be the case...we had lots of room). Our big screen TV was one of those things. That stuff has been delivered to us, and at least we have a TV. There were also 2 inflatable camping beds in that shipment.

When we left Germany for the 6 months we were in California, my sister asked me to bring any nice dishes that I had. I did, with some of my pots and pans. As it turned out, we really didn't need any of them, since our living situation changed while we were there. She also suggested we bring the bunkbeds for the boys and the computer. I have those things here with us now.

A friend of ours in California was helping her mom move to a smaller house. They had a double bed that they were getting rid of. I had planned to buy a new bed for Chad when we got back to the states, so I jumped at the chance to get this one. Ron and I now sleep on that, until our other furniture gets here.

My aunt, months ago, asked any of us if we wanted some antique bedroom furniture that has been in our family for about 100 years. I'm a sucker for antiques and for connections to my own past. So in August, the Army moved that stuff here to Tennessee for us.

Our house is sparsely furnished. We have no dining room table, so we eat around the bar, standing up. We have folding chairs and camp chairs that we sit on to watch TV, read, or use the computer. The computer actually sits on top of the two boxes it came in.

I don't want to buy anything. I have plenty of stuff coming, more than I have room for actually.

I have a roof over my head. I have food on my table...I mean bar, countertop, whatever you want to call it. I even have some luxuries, like the computer and the TV.

So while I asked God to intervene in the shipping of our household goods, I was reminded by a wise old horse, that He has already taken care of me in ways I'm failing to appreciate or even notice. Furthermore, I've been trying to pursue a simplified lifestyle; God, I believe is trying to help me with that one as well.

This new friend of mine, the horse across the way, has a new name. I call him Lily. May he remind me to appreciate not only the visible beauty of God's creation that so abundantly surrounds me, but also His ceaseless and untiring work in my own life.