Grass pierces concrete

Angler fish, those gnarly roundish ones with the jagged teeth and little light that hangs over their forehead, live down at the very bottom of the ocean. They have paper-thin skin (if fish can have skin). The pressure at the bottom of the ocean is so great that these fish should just implode and have their guts floating around the water. But no — they can withstand the pressures of the deep quite comfortably because the pressure inside their bodies is just a little bit greater than the pressure of the water.I too feel like I should be getting crushed by the massive weight on me. But the Holy Spirit inside pushes back just a little stronger — greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world. So I’ll just keep swimmin’ around and letting my light shine!(Thanks to pastor Todd for this analogy.)

I’ve been thinking a lot about my Palestinian co-worker. She is a devout Muslim and the first time I saw her she was in the middle of her prayers. Her favorite part of the day is after her kids go to bed when she reads the Koran and it “makes her happy” because “it is perfect.”

However, when she is on her period, she does not pray because she is “dirty” and cannot come before God. She expressed deep sadness about this, and how much she misses praying.

I am struck by the irony that with Jesus, it’s blood that cleanses us and allows us to approach God at all.

Early last week I noticed that I was waking up in the middle of the night because my foot was stuck on something. When I went to investigate, I discovered that my bottom sheet had suddenly become threadbare and my feet were actually getting stuck in the hole that was quickly growing. After too many nights of this happening, 2 days ago I decided to ditch the bottom sheet and put the flat sheet over the mattress since I have a duvet cover. I only have one set of sheets. But I thought this would be a fine solution for a while.

But tonight after dinner at a friends house, when I was on my way out the door, she asked if I had any need for twin sized sheets. Interestingly enough, I did. Even more interestingly, she apologized as she only had one flat sheet but two fitted ones. And they were light blue. Just like mine.

Coincidence? Maybe. But definitely a little miracle to remind me that God offers more than just the bare minimum. So often I grind down to just the necessities, either hoarding my resources for a possible need later on or twisting God’s commands in order to prove to myself that I really can go without. Yet now I not only have one, but two complete sets of sheets. Amazing. Even more amazing that God’s richness pursues me in the most mundane and simple things.