Applying Make-up

It was Friday morning and I was rushing through my normal routine, my goal being to make it on time to my nephew and great-niece's Christmas program at their pre-school. There are always so many "ordinary moments" to be had at such and I didn't want to miss a one of them. Needless to say, the telephone rang twice while I was hurriedly putting on my make-up. I'm not sure I was even kind; short anyway. But before I could hardly sit down and finish the slathering of color, the front doorbell rang! No way, I wasn't answering this one. There was too much to do to get out the door on time to get to the program. And so I quickly completed the application and headed on to the next thing -- drying my hair.

But then I thought that maybe I ought to at least check the front door to see if the early morning intrusion was just the post lady; after all, I was expecting some Christmas deliveries and I thought I did hear her truck drive by moments after the doorbell rang. And so opening the door ever so slightly so no passerby would see my still wet head and bathrobe, I peeked out. And sure enough, there it lay. A box.

Normally, on such a hectic and bustling morning, I would have tossed it on the table and waited until I returned home to open it. But I noticed the return address was listed Chris and Lisa Seaton, sweet friends from Texas, and curiosity just got the best of me. The hair would have to wait a moment longer. And so I carefully ripped into the box and inside was a book. But not just any book.

This precious couple had taken excerpts from my blog and had them put in hardback book form and gifted me with this treasure. Of course, it didn't take any time for the tears to spill over the newly applied make-up and completely ruin every effort up to that point. So I let them flow, and through the sobbing, I muttered, "Lord, what are you saying to me?" And there in the mundane of life, in the hustle and bustle of the season, God stopped me dead in my tracks and spoke a word to my heart.

Is that not just like God? To invade the ordinary moments of our lives? Oh, indeed it is.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night, when suddenly ...

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph ...

And the invasion of all invasions as he spoke to Mary: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."

Yes, God has a way of breaking into our ordinary moments, our mundane mornings, and turning them into something so extraordinary and heavenly that we cannot help but be changed by it.

All of a sudden my day became different. God had spoken to me. The press and hustle of the morning took on a different mode. I finished drying my hair and then sat down in front of the mirror once again to re-apply the make-up which had been washed by the flood. But this time, there was serenity and peace and stillness. God had broken through; He had invaded my morning.

Thank you, Lisa and Chris, for being his instruments. I treasure with all my heart the gift -- both the one you gave and the one you are.

Just an ordinary moment...