A God Wink

I follow an incredible blog written by a young woman named Katherine Wolf who is an absolute inspiration (you can - and SHOULD - check out her unbelievable story here), and she often writes about "God winks."  This is what she said on her Sept. 18th blog post entitled "God Winks":

"Romans 8:28 has been one of our mantras for a long time now, and yet, the beautiful mystery of God’s control amidst the chaos of free will can be confounding.  The admonition to simply trust that “He’s working it all out” can come off as an unfulfilling platitude, at times.  Yet as a believer in an all-loving and all-powerful God, sometimes we as humans need to give God a little credit for being God and doing things that we can’t fully wrap our minds around (Psalms 131 — “I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me“).  Even more, we need to refocus our attention to those glimpses of God moving in our everyday moments, “God winks”, we call them.  Retraining ourselves to reflect back on the all the small streams that have eventually come together to form the larger river gives much-needed encouragement to face the present with confident gratitude."

God winks: those moments where you feel like you have a brief moment of clarity and assurance that God is, indeed, at work - even in the tiniest of details.

I experienced a God wink tonight that I could easily forget...but I don't want to.  Tonight was National Night Out, which, as the name suggests, is a nation-wide event that encourages people to get out of their houses to meet their neighbors.  Since I am a committee head - Yard of the Month, baby! - I was given a job...to man the bobbing for apples "station."  Now, if you know me, you know that bobbing for apples would gross me out...because of the germ factor, right?  The only time you'll catch me bobbing for apples is if I get to go first. :)  In fact, one kid even called it saying, "Isn't this kind of unsanitary?"  Another quickly responded, "No - they're apples.  They're good for you!" (seemingly confusing "unsanitary" with "unhealthy.") :)  Well, sanitary or not, I was there to man it.

At first, our numbers were pretty low...no one really seemed to be interested in bobbing for apples.  I chatted with a few neighbors and just waited, and then all of a sudden, about 10 kids showed up - all about middle school age - and started asking about bobbing for apples.  None of them had ever done it before, and a few seemed interested in trying it out.  So one kid tried it...and then another...and then another, and before I knew it, I was surrounded by kids - as little as kindergarteners and as old as 8th graders- all wanting to try out this "bobbing-for-apples-thing," and I was in my wheelhouse: encouraging kids, suggesting strategies, high-fiving, learning names...it was awesome. (In fact, when I got home this evening, J commented to me that it really looked like I was in my element tonight.)

I haven't been around a group of kids since I subbed at the end of last school year, and while I tutor a few kiddos individually, I don't have an opportunity to interact with groups of kids on a regular basis.  In fact, if I'm really honest with myself, there are some days when I think about my plan to go back to work when I have kids in school, and I just don't know that I have a desire to do that.  I just love being a stay-at-home-mom and being with P so much, and I can't imagine that being back in the classroom (or beyond) is where I need to be...

And then there are moments like tonight, where God winks.  Tonight He reminded me that He has gifted me in the areas of teaching and of interacting with young people in an encouraging way.  He reminded me that while He has given me gifts that allow me to both enjoy and get fulfillment from being a SAHM, He has also given me gifts that would allow me to serve other people's children.  Now, I don't know when that will be, or what that will look like, but tonight I was reminded that God has plans to use me outside of my home, as well as inside.  It was all I needed: just a little moment to rekindle that passion for the classroom and for working with groups of kids that is so easily lost when I'm with my precious boy (and understandably so! ;).

So what does the future hold for me?  I don't know...but I know who does...and I can't wait to find out what He has in store. ;)