One of Those Weeks

One of Those Weeks

            Have you ever had one of those weeks? Not the kind where everything goes wrong and you wonder how you survived it. I’m talking about one of those weeks when you can look back on it and say “thank you Lord for your blessings this week.”

            There were a couple of truly amazing things that happened this week but mostly it was just the blending of a number of small things that has made it so good. Like a flower garden. One small flower is so pretty but you put a whole bunch of them together and the result is magnificent. It’s so magnificent that you can overlook the occasional weed that has invaded it. That was my week. It seemed to have the imprint of God all over it.

            The week actually started with something huge and wonderful. I met my oldest granddaughter for dinner last Saturday so she could show me her new diamond engagement ring. There;s just something about young love. Yes, in some peoples eyes she is too young for a commitment like this, but she is one of those sensible girls who has fallen in love with a great guy. I believe that he is the one I have prayed she would meet and fall in love with. She was glowing and that made me happy. I was even happier when she said they were going to wait awhile to get married. This is such a special time, she should make it last as long as possible.

            Then on Sunday my eastern bluebird family who has lived in the box beside my deck gave me a show that could have gotten them an Oscar in the world of Hollywood. Well… maybe not, Hollywood doesn’t seem to appreciate the simple things in life.  I had two bluebird families this year and this second one as brought me so much pleasure. I actually fed worms to the babies with my own fingers! But on Sunday, while sitting at my kitchen table, I watched “my” babies as they hopped from their box and took off on wings they had not yet used;  somehow they knew exactly how to do it. Probably because flying was what God created them to do.

            God created birds to fly and grandbabies to giggle. And my four preschool grandkids did that for three straight days in the middle of my week.

            This summer, for the pleasure of his grandbabies, Grandpa adopted two goats and six chickens. The minute those kids get here they have to run out behind the barn to check on “Wyatt and Rascal” the goats and the chickens, four of whom have the names of Henny, Penny, Bossie and Black Brick. I can’t remember the other two names, it seems like they have changed a couple of times. After the animals are fed, the kids argue over who gets to carry the eggs to the house. If Natalie does it, the eggs usually get smashed in her chubby little hands before she gets to the house.

            Wyatt and Rascal could have also won an Oscar for their comedy performances this week and those kids giggled until they almost fell over just watching them. Grandma, on the other hands finds the goats to be rather ornery, especially when she is alone at home with them and they get out of their pen and decide to roam the neighborhood.

            But back to the small things that made this “one of those weeks.” On Thursday my four year old granddaughter, Zoe made a work of art for me. It was a picture of me. “See gramma, you have yellow hair and blue eyes and you are smiling.” At the time I was exhausted from watching four preschoolers for three days straight and I didn’t realize I could still smile through exhaustion. I was glad she was still seeing a smile on my face.

            On Friday I got a call from my eight year old granddaughter who had been at church camp. It was her first year and it was the same camp I went to when I was eight and the same one her Momma went to. She was “bubbling” like only an eight year old girl can bubble. That made me smile too!

            As amazing as they are, it wasn’t just my grandkids that made this “one of those weeks.” Nature itself (as hot as it was!) put on a couple of amazing performances for me. On Thursday evening I rode my bike to the reservoir that is a couple of miles from my home and then rode the trail around the perimeter of it (I think it’s about two miles around it.) As I started around it, the sun was just setting and it (and the reflection of it in the water) was more beautiful than the best of any famous masterpiece. I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen until I got around to the other side and saw the huge orange full moon coming up over the water. Wow!

            It wasn’t just the beauty of them that left me in awe though. It was the thought that my God created them to be, not only functional ,but to bring us great delight. 

            Thursday was a really good day as you can tell and what made it even more special was a call from Guidepost magazine. They want to publish a story I sent to them. The story is what I call “the legacy of my son” who died when he was five. I really don’t think it's my story, it’s his, but because God let me be his mom I got to write it. It will be in the December magazine.

            It wasn’t until I sat down at my piano this morning and began to play that I was able to recognize that this was “one of those weeks” only because of God’s goodness and grace to me. I opened an old hymnal to an old song I haven’t played or heard for a long time. It’s called “My Wonderful Lord” and even though it was written in 1938, today I felt like it was written just for me on this day.

             As I played it my mind went back to when I was a child to an old gentleman everyone called “Grandpa Hunt.”  I’ll never forget him. He had snow white hair and was one of the kindest men God ever created. “My Wonderful Lord” was his favorite hymn and everytime we sang it I would watch him. He would lift his face towards heaven and with tears running down his face he would lift his hand in praise to “his wonderful Lord.” I used to wonder why he did that. Now that I am closer to his age I know. The first few words are these:

            “I have found a deep peace that I never had known

             and a joy this world could not afford.

            Since I yielded control of my body and soul,

            To my wonderful wonderful Lord.”

With age comes the knowledge that the blessings from a week like this one are only possible when we recognize that they come from a wonderful Lord. Grandpa Hunt knew it when I was a little girl. And now I know it.