Glimpses

Do you ever get a word stuck in your head and it keeps seeming to pop up everywhere you turn? My "word" of the year is surrender, but lately, the word GLIMPSES seems to be right in my face.
    A few nights ago I was reading "Our Father," the Pope's new book breaking down the Lord's Prayer. It's a super short, easy to read book but it is incredibly insightful. He writes about how the Kingdom of God is basically here but not here (he said it way more eloquently than I ever could. He is the Pope after all). He goes on to discuss how through Jesus and when we really pay attention, we can see God's hand in all things (such a Jesuit concept....love). This got me really thinking about all the glimpses I've been seeing in my life lately and how even when you can't see the whole picture, those glimpses reassure us that something is happening, moving, and changing.

 When we lost Hadley, our amazing doctor gave us the book, "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People" and it was just the medicine I needed while in that heartbreaking valley. The author gives this beautiful analogy of life as a tapestry that we can only see the bottom of. It's messy, wild, and completely unpredictable. "Why is this happening?" we may wonder. But look again (always look again). And this time flip it over and admire the beautiful creation. What you only saw glimpses of was actually part of the plan all along. Isn't that analogy so beautiful?

As a teacher I see glimpses all the time that my kids are learning and growing. Do I see the whole picture......a college graduate? An adult who loves to read for fun? A parent who encourages their child to love school because they had a positive experience in the classroom themselves? No way. I wish I could see the whole picture, that would certainly provide encouragement on one of "those days" dealing with "that kid." But teaching is a long game and the glimpses get me through. My tapestry is growing and my students' is just getting started.

As a wife and a mom it can be challenging to know that everything you do, all you put in, is paying in dividends beyond your imagination. But again, those glimpses---that smile from your son, that tender touch and late night giggle fest with your husband, all of those things are building blocks of the life you are building and living. Look for the glimpses.

I adore Oprah and especially her signature tag line, "Live your best life." But what if the life you're living or the season you're in doesn't feel even close to your best life? You feel overwhelmed, tired, lazy. Take heart, it's not all bad. In fact, it's not bad at all. Give yourself grace and skip a workout one day, take time to tickle and play with your baby, and get up 20 minutes earlier to savor that cup of coffee and some quiet time. Let that grace you show yourself and others be a small glimpse of the positively enormous grace given to you time and time again.

 Please don't think that because I'm writing a silly blog post about glimpses of holy in our lives that I've got this concept all figured out or that I am adept at sensing and appreciating the glimpses in my own life. I'll be honest, here. I get frustrated when I've taught the same thing over and over and a student still doesn't "get it." I get annoyed when Hank cries and has a blow out on our way out the door somewhere. I get mad when the trash can and sink are overflowing and I feel like I have million things to do. I get mad at myself when I struggle with a Boot Camp station requiring more coordination than I can really offer. Life ain't perfect, folks. And neither am I. Not even close. BUT.....if we can take the time to be reflective and recognize that everything, even the messy and out of control, is a part of something so much larger, suddenly even the mundane has meaning.

So trust that the weaver of life is working on your masterpiece and give thanks for the glimpses you might recognize of His divine plan along the way. How beautiful it will be when we can see the whole picture.