Clara and I had a fun, but long day. We went strawberry picking with friends this morning, I dealt with our friends' "energetic" horse and taught 3 lessons while Clara talked away in the pack'n'play instead of napping, we took a long way home and eventually found the house I was looking for where we picked up some fresh local honey (that was sitting in front of the garage door, where I left a check in an envelope taped to the door - love the country!). Thirty minutes after we got home, Luke left to go help our friend stack hay for our horses.
Due to the non-napping, Clara went to bed early. Just before 6:30 I came out of her room and heard a car being started in my driveway! Strange, since Luke was gone. I had left my keys in my car when we got home and, although I wasn't exactly worried, I rushed to the front door just in time to see a small, unfamiliar silver car pull out of our driveway and drive away. Strange, I thought, although not too strange as people often turn around in our driveway. Then, as I turned around to come back inside, I happened to look down. There on the step was this:
The note reads: "Hi! :) I see you outside with your child - saw you one day planting and her right by your side. Saw this and thought it fit you even though I do not know you. I am just a neighbor happy to see someone making a difference. :)"
Wow! I am still blown away by the kindness and thoughtfulness of this person who took notice and sought to encourage a complete stranger. I only wish I knew who he or she was so I could thank them in person! But this public thanks will have to do for now.
I absolutely love my job as a mom and value my role as a mother. But sometimes I do wonder, couldn't I be doing more? More for others? More for God? God seems to be answering me lately in very specific ways. Last week there was this post from another mom I love to read, writing about a young girl whose story has inspired me but also sometimes caused me to wonder if I am giving enough, living enough of a poured out life and shouldn't I be doing what she is doing and my heart aches for brown faces and my birth soil. This week there were two posts: here and here on the importance of motherhood, pouring into the children we've been given and seeing what God sees in them.
And then, today, this. A stranger saw and took notice. How much more does my God see and take notice? Of the moments I didn't raise my voice, the million and one repetitions of Clifford or Pooh Bear, the dishes, the laundry, the snuggles with a cranky toddler who is caught somewhere between clinging tight and pushing away. The small things. The life that sometimes feels small yet still overwhelming.
Thank you, Father. I am listening.
2 comments:
Yeah. Wow! Just wow! That's very precious. I hope you will meet this neighbor someday.
Sweetheart, our Father numbers the very hairs on our heads. You can be sure he notices all the small things. He will bring people to you and give you opportunities to reach far and wide from your own doorstep. I can certainly count many that he brought to us in the years you all were little when I often wondered if I was doing enough and whether or not I should be back working in a slum in Nairobi instead of raising a big family in the ideal little New England college town.
Just keep asking and then listening for the answers he will give - sometimes in a whisper, sometimes in a shout.
Love you so much,
M
OK, that obviously wasn't Joel. That's what happens when he checks his gmail on my computer and doesn't sign out! But he did read your post with me and we were both pretty amazed and delighted by your neighbor's gift.
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