I’m not a morning person. I also don’t like to be rushed. I’m a deep thinker and that often means I ponder things and work slowly and carefully.
Combine those things with our family business (my art), which always requires early mornings and being rushed getting things ready and add in a pinch of worry… what if we don’t sell anything?… what if it rains?… what if no one likes our stuff?…. and what you get is crabbiness. It’s not a cool thing on my part. I get worried and feel rushed and always feel like I’m forgetting something and as we set up in the early hours of the morning (which is often filled with mosquitoes and sweat and a rush to get the car parked and our tent set up and the prints out) and I have a tendency to miss the blessings in that day… until later, that is.
Later, when our booth is set up and we’re meeting people and talking about faith and I’m feeling like God, what a wonderful blessing this is to do something I love and talk about the Bible verses people love and why is when I sit back and go, God, what a fool I am to miss how wonderful you’ve been to us this day. And then I apologize and be thankful.
But it frustrates me that I don’t see it right away. One of the pictures that hangs in our house is “Laughing Jesus.” My husband gave me this as a gift for our wedding, and I love this picture. It reminds of Jesus’ humanness. How he did everything we do, including laugh. We don’t always hear about that, but you know with the sense of humor that God has that Jesus was probably aware of the ironies in life and laughter was a way to deal with them.
At one recent craft fair we did we pulled up to find out our booth location had moved from last year. Immediately, I thought this had to be because they didn’t like my stuff. (That’s right where my mind goes first sometimes.) So I was bummed. We were further into a woodsy area, and I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I didn’t have any bug spray, but the thoughtful guy next to us did and gave me some. This act of kindness reminded me to stop stressing. It reminded me of a bigger order of things, in only the way that simple acts can do. Never underestimate the goodness that a kind act will do!
After that, I sat in our booth, busy with questions and sales, and then there was a lull. I took that moment to walk around the fair and only then noticed that because of the woodsy area we were in, the temps, which I thought were mild as I sat in my booth, were actually really warm. I hadn’t noticed that blessing.
I hadn’t noticed that God had given us a nice little gift there on a hot day, and that’s when I pictured Jesus sitting there shaking his head, laughing at me while he said (for the umpteenth time), when are you going to relax in my goodness? When are you going to finally let it all go (the doubts, the worry) and just be continually thankful, without interruption?
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus
This is when I imagine this verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:18, where Jesus is a key part. I think that’s why I imagine Jesus there, laughing at me and saying, ease up, girl and just enjoy this day.
Always when I look back at our craft fair days, there are blessings. Even if we don’t sell a lot, there are the blessings of talking to people, connecting, finding new ideas for art, praying…
At the latest craft fair I did one of the women shared a faith story with me, and she started it by gesturing to the art prints I had made. She said, “I’m going to share this with you, because I see your heart everywhere and I know you will understand.” She talked about a new season of her life and I was moved to tears. And this was one of the biggest blessings of the day.
My prayer and reminder for this day is to focus on this verse, no matter how you start your day, end it with a remembrance of this:
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus
