Life in itself is the most wonderful fairytale of all.
Hans Christian Anderson
How could I have been so irresponsible! It was a warm afternoon when school let out that day and I had taken my coat off while waiting for my mother to pick my sister and me up from the Junior High School. I must have grabbed my book bag and forgot my coat lying there on the lawn. Tears ran down my face because I knew the jacket would be stolen and I would not be getting another jacket like that one.
I went every day to the Junior High front office hoping someone would turn it in. What were the odds? My mother and father knew how much I had enjoyed my new winter coat. I can remember them encouraging me, “Let’s pray that whoever took it will feel the weight of guilt and return it.” On one of my treks to the front office the lady who worked in the office said to me, “Chances are no one is going to turn it in. I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”
I didn’t let her doubt deter me in the least. I kept praying for the person who stole my jacket. It didn’t matter that the odds were stacked against me – almost completely, I had God on my side; I would not quit. I continued day after day, week after week going into the front office while the lady continued to shake her head.
As I sat in study hall one afternoon, I heard my name come over the loud speaker. I was asked to come down to the front office. I jumped up and with permission, took off. My heart was pounding as I walked. When I opened the office door the lady was smiling as she grabbed a black NIKE jacket from behind the counter. “Is this your jacket?” “YES!” I resounded! She told me honestly that she never thought I would get my coat back. I smiled back at her. “I prayed,” I told her. She told me the janitor was cleaning out some empty lockers and found it shoved inside one of them.
My parents taught my sister and me from an early age that that God loves to answer prayers from His children, it is His good pleasure to do good, even if it’s just a jacket.
I took Charlotte to the beauty shop. I watched her get a wash and brush out with a ponytail to finish it off. On the way home she sat there eating her sucker, telling me all about her horses and what she wanted for Christmas. Chances are she won’t remember that moment at all. But I will. Someday I will tell her, like her sister, she really didn’t need a haircut, I just didn’t want to miss the opportunity to listen to her childhood and drink in her simplicity.
“It is wonderful to have ambitions. I’m so glad I have a lot of them. Just as soon as you attain one ambition you see another one glittering higher still. It does make life so interesting.
Anne of Green Gables.
It was a couple days before the big snow and ice storm was set to hit the Southeast. There was, as of yet, no sign of cold weather. The kids were playing in the sunshine. I was making trips back and forth unloading the grocery supplies for the two-day shut in. I heard Charlotte as I rounded out of the garage, “Ok, Tyson. I will tell you when to let go. Ok, hit it, Tyson!” With eyes wide open I watched Tyson let go of the wagon and Charlotte sail down the hill holding on to the front squealing with absolute delight.
The chance of snow is only 4% percent. The girls started jumping up and down, Tyson followed suit. “Ya!” They all screamed with excitement. “It’s going to snow!” I stopped them with my practicality at the forefront. “No, no, kids, you don’t understand, 4% means no chance at all.” I sounded a lot like the lady behind the Junior High office counter. Eva piped up, “Yes, but there is still a chance!” With 4% chance of snow, I watched snowflakes trickle down for over ten hours. I stood there at the window shaking my head. Although accumulation was small, it was enough to top off the icy glaze and gave the kids the satisfaction of sled rides and hot chocolate. As I walked outside listening to their giggles and play in the snow, I heard the familiar voice of Holy Spirit speak to my heart, “I’ve done more with less.” 4% is still a chance.
Not long ago, my sister told me in conversation,” I used to hate a cluttered busy fridge, it looks so unkept. Now, I see ribbons from Ben, who is ten years old, Karate matches and pictures of our church family and friends. I see the kids Bible memorizations and Caroline, who is four, current obsession with colorful paper and rainbows. I see our daily life all over my fridge, and I love it.” They grow without a care in the world. Chances are, within a home like that the odds are going to be good.
I shared the elevator with a lady on her way to a doctor appointment. She had two small girls and was pregnant with number three. I could tell the morning had tried her patience. Her clothes were thrown together and she was hanging on by a thread. I was alone that day with my perfectly coiffed hair and clothes well adorned (all rare, but she didn’t know that). She looked at me with tired eyes, and hair thrown up in a clip, “This one is going to be a boy,” she said. I lightly grinned and nodded, “Yes.” Thinking of my own two little girls and handsome prince. “I know that story well,” I told her. I thought about all the happenings I could expound on, but chances are her story will look nothing like mine. I turned as I left, “By the way, it turns out really good. Enjoy it all.”
God does not live within my percentage scales or spare pockets of time. He rides on the breaths of heaven. He lives and works within the impossible. He specializes in creating from nothing. He gives dreams wings, prayers answers, and beauty to the pages of our story; He even shows up on messy refrigerators. If you want to stand amazed, ask Him for something that makes Him look like God. Chances are He will step out on nothing and show up in the “somethings” of your life. For with God, nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37).
They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of your house, and you give them drink from the rivers of your pleasure. Psalms 36:8
