Monday, September 8, 2014

Catching Sunbeams

I suppose the dust storm began for our family last Thanksgiving when someone crashed into our front porch with their car, leaving a column lying on the ground and our flower bed destroyed. A hit and run on our house! Then at Christmas, we were devastated by the sudden loss of a loved one. Grief. Heartache. The dust kept coming. After returning home from being with our family, our two-year-old daughter went into the worst phase of teething yet, and my husband caught a terrible winter cold. Dust, Dust, Dust. Then, a few days later, our transmission went out on our truck, and we were forced to buy another one. I was expecting another baby and failed my first glucose tolerance test. Heating systems failed. Refrigerators went out. More Dust! So much dust we could hardly breathe.

But I’d like to tell you about a clear crisp morning before all this began...

My little girl was sitting on the potty, and I was singing to her as always and brushing my hair at the bathroom sink. Then I noticed her reaching into the air- like she was grasping at something. It was that perfect time of morning when the sun was pouring in through the window. And a sunbeam landed right at her feet. As she sat singing "Wheels on the Bus", her golden tendrils bouncing as she nodded to the beat, she couldn't help but reach out and grasp for it. For several minutes the sun was at just the right place to catch all the dust particles in the air- making all of them glow in a beam ‘til the light pooled on the rug. Just beautiful.

But- it was just dust that she was grasping for! Bless her heart!

Well- it was dust... And Light. The sunlight made the dust particles magical almost. And I realized… if it were not for the dust in the air, there wouldn't be much of a sunbeam at all.

I made a mental note then to always be thankful for the dust. And to always always reach for sunbeams.

During our dust storm, such a difficult time, precious babies were born. Light! Loving friends brought us food and cared for us. Light! We sang and prayed with family around a campfire. Light! We got to buy a new truck (well- new to us anyway). Sunlight just kept coming! Oh- I passed my second glucose test, but started eating healthier, got our gutters and roof cleaned while the guy fixed the crashed column, and somewhere in the midst of it all, my little girl got 4 shiny new teeth! Light light light!

Over those couple of dusty months, although there was a lot of bad, we could count the bad things, but we couldn't even begin to count all the good- the goodness- the light. There was just so much.

We are not promised that the good will outweigh the bad or that the dust will even clear in a while if we keep marching on. In fact, if there is any certainty, it is that there will be dust storms. But there is always light too. We must continue to look for the light in the midst of it all- grasp it- treasure it- in order to find purpose and even beauty in the dust.
    She was just a tiny thing here- but goodness... look at those sunbeams!