Friday, July 2, 2010

Hands Soaked in Fuchsia

Our summer has been a whirlwind of activity. Softball & Baseball gets us out of the house 5 days a week throughout most all of June and last week, with Zeke's tournament games, we were out and about 7 days in a row. We love it. It keeps us busy and physically fit...and in the case of Zoe, be rather painful as she contends with Osgood-Schlatter (her left leg). We are meeting and bonding with some incredible people that are becoming extended family.

Today was a slow-down kind of day. It is one of the first days that we don't have anything going on...well, until the girls were invited to go spend the day/evening/night with a friend and her mom.. They were picked up in the afternoon, taken out to dinner, and I rendezvoused with them in Kent to see Eclipse at the theater, left them in my friend's care & made my way (solo!) to Walmart to pick up my face soap that I forgot when I did my "big shop" 2 days ago. Zeke spent the evening with my mom. I just heard the squeaky sound of our clothes hamper upstairs and his clothes slide down inside the wall beside me~ he's a good boy and always throws his dirty clothes down after he showers.

Following our movie, I took some back roads to Wally. I threw on my sweatshirt, slid my sunglasses up and over my messy hair, and walked in through the garden entrance. I grabbed my face soap and made my way around looking for some bargains~ none were to be found. As I grabbed my bag and receipt, I happened to look out the upper windows of the exit doors. Most Walmarts are nearly identical to one another. You have security scanner thingamajigs at the entrance/exit, followed by the little lobby area where you'd grab/deposit your cart, and the big glass doors that are always backwards~ enter on the left...people come out on the right...what's up with that? When you are looking at the exit at this particular Walmart from inside the door, you can only see outside the windows at door height...there is actually a wall from the ceiling down, which separates the store from the lobby area. This is where the big blowers are located that shoot down heat in the winter time, hence that wall. So, as you walk through, your eyes are trained to not look up. I look up :) Everyone is chit chatting with one another, or walking by to grab their cart. Some are waiting for whomever they came with...no one is looking up. If they only looked up...would they even see it? Not just see it, but know it was Him? The sky was extraordinary. The sun was setting...leaving His beautiful hand prints soaked in fuchsia. It reminded me of when a child dips their hands into finger-paint and drags them across paper. Hints of yellow and blue were His canvas...fuchsia on top of the silhouette of his hands. Immediately I am grinning in gratitude and I looked around the parking lot...no one was even looking up. I hopped in my van and began driving home. When I got off at my exit, I stretched around to see if He was still working the sky in brilliant color and He was...more yellows and blues....a little fuchsia....I raced east down our main road and made the turn going north, crested up and over the hill and looked to the west...Oh He wasn't done yet...some of the brightest stars were popping out amongst the blues and yellows...and the gray..and He timed it perfectly to go along with the David Crowder CD I was jamming too....GLLOOOORRRY!!! GLLLOOORRRY!!! GLLOOORRRY!!! God is Near to each one of us!!! Yea, He likes to impress me with His awesomeness...look up, you'll see it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw8EZrvv6l8

Lyrics:
David Crowder Band Eastern Hymn Lyrics:
[Verse]
Bring us love, You who are love
Bring us peace, You who are peace

We need love, O divine love
We need your peace,
Your merciful peace

Bring us love, O divine love
Bring us peace, You who are peace

[Pre-Chorus]
How gracefully
You come along
How gracefully
You come

[Chorus]
Glory, glory, glory
God is near to each one of us
Holy, holy, holy
God is near to each one of us

[Bridge]
O grant us reprieve from the fighting
So we just rest our
head on the shoulder of the One
In His arms we're forever
grateful for the contact
O so blessed for a moment's rest
Weeping knowing we have been touched
Weeping knowing we have been touched
O we have been touched

(Originally posted as a note on FB, July 1st, 2010)