It's not often that something strikes me as so profound that I will find myself thinking about it several days later. Well, more than just thinking really. Obsessing.
See, I'm doing this Bible study by Priscilla Shirer on Gideon and during the second week she talks about finding the miracles in the mundane (my words, not hers). Her specific illustration of this talks about the Angel of the Lord appearing to Gideon and how it wasn't about the pomp and circumstance surrounding the event. From what we see and are told, there were no trumpets, no flashing lights, no burning bushes. Actually, it appears that the Angel of the Lord shows up, sits down and then is noticed some time later. It is so ordinary and this is what has consumed my thoughts: What else am I missing out on because I am looking for the extraordinary rather than the every day?
My first thought was my husband. I am truly blessed to be married to a fabulous man. He is my partner and my friend. He makes me laugh when I want to cry and brings balance to my (sometimes) erratic emotions better than anyone I have ever met. He cheers me on and encourages me always. He goes along with my hair brained ideas (like building our own dining room table when neither of us has ever built anything out of wood)--even when said idea is going to monopolize a lot of his already limited free-time. He's a hard worker and excellent father who loves our kids fiercely. He's not perfect, but he's pretty perfect for me.
So there, I gushed about him. What on Earth could I possibly be missing, right? A lot. Remember what I said about looking for the miracles in the mundane? How often do I miss that my husband shows me he loves me by putting the dishes away in the mornings while I'm out for a run (or still in bed pretending to sleep)? What about the random text messages that say "Stopped for lunch and just thought about how much I love you."? Or the fact that he doesn't complain when he has to dig through a basket of socks for a week (or more) because I despise folding socks and he is out of them in his drawer? Or maybe it's the fact that he gets a new roll of toilet paper even though the current roll isn't quite empty yet so that I never run out when I am in the bathroom. (Side note, I am TERRIBLE about replacing the toilet paper.) None of these are big and flashy. No woman is going to swoon when I tell her that my husband got me a new roll of toilet paper yesterday, but all of these happened within the past 24 hours. No joke.
You see, our marriage isn't made of romantic dinners out and bouquets of flowers. It's made of ordinary days, with ordinary tasks and sometimes it's hard to remember one day from the next. But when you stop and look, there are signs all around that say "I am choosing you"; "I love you"; "9 years, 2 kids, and a lot more chaos later there isn't anyone else I would rather do my life with." Am I seeing it?
