Coffee Time - Be Ready

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

Ecclesiastes 3:12-14

"What is it, today?"  My daughter was exercising on the rowing machine.  I was on the elliptical.

"Today is May 15th,"  I told her,

"It is my birthday next Tuesday," she replied with one of her looking-forward-to-her-birthday grins.

"Not next Tuesday, Sweetie, the Tuesday after.  Your birthday is on the 28th.  Next Tuesday is only the 21st."

"It is not real."  She was referring to the music video on the TV in the exercise room, apparently her birthday was forgotten.  "The accident.  It is not real."

"I know," I smiled down at her from my machine.  "I like this video."

"Like ER.  You know ER?"  She was telling and asking in the same breath.

"Yes, I know ER, but I've never watched it."

"ER, it is nasty," she proclaimed.  Like I'd never heard her say it before - every time something or someone comes up bloody or broken on a show or a movie.  Emergency Room.  ER.  She used to watch it when she visited her dad.  It was one of their shows.  "It is blood."

"Yes, it is.  The woman was in an accident.  She wasn't paying attention to her driving.  She was looking for her phone.  There is blood."

My daughter was looking intently at the screen as she pulled the rower back - squinting a little, wrinkling her nose at the images, concentrating.  "See, Mom, it is coming.  The accident."

"I know.  Does it bother you? You know it's not real.  It's just a video."  I look down to gauge her mood, her feelings.

"Taylor Swift."  She's labeling the people and images.  "And Keith Urban, too"  The 'th' in his first name sounding more like an 'f'.

Apparently she's moved on again.  A different topic.  "Yes, he plays the guitar."

"It is hospital."

Hmm...back to the ER thing.  "Yes, they took her to the hospital.  Sierra, you've seen this video before, right?"

She looked over at me - waiting.

"Watch their faces, Honey.  Can you tell if the woman is ok?  Watch their faces.  There's the doctor.  Now there's hugs.  Look - can you tell?"

"She is dead."

"No, Sweetie, look - they're hugging and smiling.  What do you think?"

Focusing on the video - staring - my daughter suddenly blurted "She is ok.  Awesome God."

"Yes - Awesome God."

"Jonathan is hugging me."  She had that I'm-teasing-my-mother twinkle in her eye.

"No," I laughed.  "Jonathan is not hugging you.  Jonathan isn't here right now.  He is not hugging you."

"He is my boyfriend, Jonathan."  Still with the teasing smile.  My husband and I told her, years ago, that she couldn't have a boyfriend until she turned 25.  She'll be 22 in a couple of weeks.  I started to answer...

"Mom."

"Hmmm..."

"It is my birthday.  Next Tuesday."

"No, honey, your birthday is still a couple of weeks away."

Conversations with my daughter tend to circle around.  You get used to it.  It's calming.  Deceptively calming sometimes.  Kind of like an old habit - you put it on like a favorite dress everyday and expect it to fit a certain way, hang to certain length, move just so - comfortable.  Then, out of nowhere comes the pow.  The change.  The unexpected.  My daughter has become an expert at the pow.  Just when I think I know where she's going in her circular thinking, she comes up with something new.  Something surprising.  Something unexpected.  Like hugging a boyfriend in the middle of her conversation -

The sun comes up, the sun goes down.  We go to work; we come home.  We walk through our dailys blindly - our daily meals, our daily schedules, our daily relationships.  We sometimes take our dailys for granted.  Even our daily God.

Even our daily God.  We get comfortable with Him - kind of like an old habit.  And that's not a bad thing.  Like conversations with my daughter.  Everyday conversations about everyday things.  God did create, after all, our every days.  But then, out of nowhere comes the pow.  The shift.  That little voice.  The nudge.  The unexpected change in circumstance.  Do we not expect God to communicate back to us?  Be ready.  God pursues us - He wants us in relationship with Him.  We want to be in His will.  Be ready for the pow.  Sometime, somewhere, in the midst of our dailys - He reveals His plan for us.  Like my daughter - in her conversation - her plan revealed...  It can happen anytime.  Be ready.

Heavenly Father, you have given us gifts - gifts to use to glorify you.  Thank you.  Help me to seek you; help me to hear you in my every days.  And God, help me to obey.