That Was Fun!

“That was fun!” I said to myself in the car on the way home from church this morning, a smile plastered on my face.

Let’s be honest, I'm not sure how often one thinks of Sunday morning services as fun.

So you might wonder what was so fun about this Rite I no music service?  And I will tell you it wasn’t the service itself.  The service was fine.

It was the building.  It was the grounds.  It was being in a church that was about 150 years old and feeling the Holy Spirit saturating every piece of wood in there from altar rail to pew.  And yes there were the hard, no cushion Puritan Pews—as I call them—and they were fine.

But you could feel the Spirit tremble inside.

And the grounds—beautiful flowers.  I had so many photo ops and that gave me such peace—and then I noticed a clearing, like a courtyard.

“No way,” I whispered.  “Is that a labyrinth?”

And it was!  It was a prayer labyrinth that I didn’t expect to find and it was gorgeous, laid out in a pattern I hadn’t walked before.

I have learned in my two months in Ohio that I was spoiled with prayer labyrinths in Florida, spoiled with being able to walk them whenever I wanted.

Prior to today, the two labyrinths I had seen in Ohio—one was abandoned and overgrown and the other involved the Jesuits siccing security on my dad and me (a story for another day).

So you better believe I walked that labyrinth.  People were pulling in the parking lot for the next service, and I walked that labyrinth with no reservations, no shyness.  I don’t know how many people ever walk that labyrinth and maybe everyone who pulled in was wondering who that strange woman was, walking theirs, and I hope—I hope they wondered.  I hope I brought some mystery to their day.

I need to go back.  I need to get in touch with the church and see about getting a tour and taking more pictures and learning if this is the place God is leading me to.

But for today—I had fun.

Where Did You See God Today?

So, apparently, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles still has my driver’s license in the computer system even though it’s been 25 years.

“Can I use that picture for my new license?” I asked the man.

He grimaced.  “Man, those glasses.”

“It was the 90s!” I said.

Eventually I settled on a new picture even though, as I explained to the man, I look more and more like my mom with each picture taken.

This morning did not start out well.  Finding out shortly after 3 am that I had been locked out of my bank account.  Discovering a speed demon spider in my bathtub a few hours after that and knowing I was going to be spending my morning in the BMV, I started thinking just going back to bed might be the best option, especially after one of my pictures just randomly fell off the wall and shattered, especially after I found yet another spider hiding in the upper corner of my bedroom (actually not exactly hiding-he had a whole condominium complex of webs up there).

I told my dad I felt like the Pink Panther in the cartoon when this rain cloud follows him around all day, raining just on him.

But I also told my dad that I had promised myself that I would find God in today, that I would challenge myself to find God.

For starters, I found Him in the BMV, because if you can find things to laugh about at the BMV, God must be present.  Most people dread heading to the DMV or BMV.  Even the pictures posted online of this particular branch had a long line out the door.  But I was in and out and lucky enough to share a few laughs with the worker helping me.

After I got home from the BMV, I called my dad and asked him to come over, bring his ladder, and kill the bedroom spider for me. 

“Why don’t you just get a broom and knock it down?” he asked me.

“First, I don’t have a broom and second, even if I did, so I knock the spider down, but then he disappears and now he’s just really angry at me.”

“Okay, I’ll bring a broom and knock him down and you keep an eye on him.”

“No, Dad, bring the ladder—please.”

He paused, I think, wondering if I was serious about the whole thing, but wasn’t that one of the reasons I moved to Ohio?  So I could call my dad and have him kill bugs for me?  He also put some furniture together for me today as well, but I told him I most appreciated him taking care of the spider.

The truth is I have an amazing dad.  When I closed on my condo sale, the title lady was explaining how taxes work for the sale of a home and I told her I already knew, that my dad had researched it and already told me.

“What a good dad you have,” the woman said.

“Yeah, he’s sitting in the car right now keeping an eye on the cats.  He’s a good guy.”

Later after we had signed everything and I left, when I got in the car, my dad said, “Some lady walked out and smiled and waved at me.”

I laughed.  “Yeah that was probably the title lady.  We were talking about you.”

So where did I see God today?  In the blessings of having an awesome dad.

And finally, early this morning, after I worked out the issue with my bank account and crawled back into bed, Loki, my little orange kitty, hopped on top of me, butted his head against my arm, and then curled up, but not the way he normally does.

Normally, like a lot of crazy cats, he curls up on top of me and puts his fluffy butt right in my face.

But this morning, he rested his chin right next to my chin.  I could see him out of the corner of my eye.  My brain was racing, obsessively worrying about my bank account, but Loki’s eyes got heavier and heavier and finally closed.  He was perfectly at peace and it was hard not mirror that.

I fell asleep a minute later.

God doesn’t promise us no bad days.  But He does promise He will walk with us through those bad days. 

Realizing that God is always with us is one thing, but finding Him, recognizing His presence in our lives takes practice.  It has to become a habit and when it does, you won’t even have to think about it.

You’ll know He’s there.

Amen.