Spilled Milk

"A young father, a typical type-A personality, followed the same routine every workday. He would arrive home around 5:30pm, park the car in the garage, walk out to the driveway with briefcase in hand, pick up the newspaper, proceed to the front door, enter the house, place the briefcase in the hallway, put the newspaper on the couch in the living room, then walk down the long hallway to the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, he would open up the cupboard, take out a glass, and place it on the counter. He would then open the refrigerator, reach for the carton of milk, walk over to the glass, pour the glass full of milk, and return the milk to the refrigerator. Without thinking, he would pick up the glass of cold milk, grab a cookie from the cookie jar on the counter, and walk to the living room where he would sit down, power up the television with the remote, and watch the news while drinking his milk and eating his cookie, sometimes stopping during commercials to browse through the newspaper. His routine had been the same for many years, and, unbeknownst to him, his three-year-old son had noticed.

"One night the father came home from work and began his usual routine. As he stepped into the hallway, setting his briefcase and newspaper down, he looked up to see his son standing down the hall, a smile on his face, obviously anticipating his father's return. Dad knew something was up, so he stopped and watched his son turn around and head for the kitchen. Pleasantly surprised, the dad crept to the edge of the kitchen to see what his son was up to. The little boy ran to the corner of the kitchen, pulled out the bottom drawer (which he was not supposed to do), stepped on the drawer, climbed onto the counter (which he was not supposed to do), reached into the cupboard, and pulled on a glass, knocking the other glasses over. Thankfully, none of them broke. With glass in hand, the little boy scooted back down onto the drawer, then to the floor, and ran over to the cookie jar. He reached up as high as he could and, barely grasping the jar, knocked it over and spilled cookies all over the floor. Oblivious to his father, he scooped all the cookies up and put them back on the counter, except for one. He picked up the remaining cookie, ran over to the refrigerator, placed the cookie and empty glass on the floor, opened the refrigerator door, and reached inside and grabbed the plastic half-gallon container of milk. He then picked up the container of milk and, the container wobbling terribly, began to pour the milk into the glass, spilling milk all over the floor. Any other evening the father would have yelled at his son by this time, pointing out the terrible mess he was making. Instead, he sensed something much more important was happening here; he patiently waited as the little boy picked up the cookie and the glass of milk and came running to him with a huge smile on his face. The dad threw his arms around his son and said, 'Thank you, Son!' Dad realized his son was giving him a wonderful gift...

"...How many years of my life I have pictured God standing at the door of the kitchen, saying, 'Mike, put that glass down! Stop doing that! Get off the counter!' I had no idea that as I stumbled up to God with my milk and cookies, the kitchen of my life in disarray, God was loving me, spilled milk and all, and opening His arms, saying, 'Thank you, Michael. You are such a gift to Me!' Not only does the passionate love of God fill us with passion, it fills us with gratitude."

--Dangerous Wonder, by Michael Yaconelli

I read this story again today - I love it so much! There are so many things we do in our life - some good, some messy - but always trying to do our best. It's nice to think God is watching us with a smirk on His face, waiting for us to notice that He is there, ready for us to ask for help, or simply able to remind us that we are loved, messes and all!

I wish you moments of feeling God's presence in your life today!

Megs

Things I am thankful for today:

1. Quiet reading time in the mornings.

2. 65 degrees!

3. Adirondack chairs.

4. Artichoke, bell pepper, and feta cheese pizza!

5. Beginning a new book! "A Year of Living Biblically"

6. Goldfinches.

7. Bailey playing frisbee for the first time this year!

8. My new spring trench coat - so cute!

9. A talkative hubby.

10. Pussywillows.