What Does It Look Like?

 June 16, 2015

“What does it look like?”  I lift the handle on the faucet and shift it to hot, the clear running water sends steam upwards as it swirls and mixes with the soap forming frothy piles of bubbles on its surface.  The heat of it soothes as my hands slip under the water, testing the temperature, I want this water hot.  A rainbow of bubbles rises and I watch the iridescent changing of colors across their surface.  I close my eyes, “What does it look like?”  My closed eyes allow my mind to bring forth faces one after another each one bringing to mind their precious story, each one unique, each one holding a special piece of my heart, each little life a gift of Grace.  Both hands are in the heat of the water now and their searching below the surface finds the coarse texture of the cloth, grasping it in one hand I open my eyes as my other hand lifts the first glass and begins to wash.  My eyes focus on the verse written across the glass on the picture before me.

“Make me know Your ways,

O Lord;

Teach me Your paths.

Lead me in Your truth and teach me.

For You are the God of my

Salvation;

For You I wait all the day.

Remember, O Lord, Your

Compassion and Your

 Lovingkindnesses,

For they have been from of old.”

Psalm 25:4-6

  I wrote it up there a few days ago, that clear smooth surface has become a favorite place to jot reminders of who my God is and what He is teaching me in these days.  Now in this moment I am praying these very words, “Lord, teach me Your ways.”  I smile and think to myself as I pick up the next dish, “What does it look like?”  It looks like a pile of dishes, it looks like a meal prepared and served, it looks like a floor mopped and a vacuum cleaner pushed, it looks like a bathroom scrubbed, a porch painted, a basket of laundry sorted, washed, and folded.  It looks like a garden planted, a yard watered, but it is so much more than that.  It is here in what the outside world would see as everyday chores that I am finding words to put to the heart cries, it is here in these moments of doing chores that are so very familiar to my hands that they come automatically where I find the time to think, to ponder, to be amazed at my God’s working.  To consider the work He has given me to do in this season as a gift of time to consider the work that He continues to do in me.  I see the faces of little ones, I consider the suffering and pain I have seen, I contemplate the joy and elation of moments that I still do not fully understand.  I am reminded of His promises to love, provide for and protect and I am given a chance to wonder at what it looks like to see His mighty hand moving to care for each tiny detail. 

It is in this work when I am able to gather together the words to share with others when they ask, “What does it look like?”  

It looks like Remembering this!

It looks like moments with these precious ones...

It looks like family

It looks like Christmas Morning

Like Wearing lots of hats

Fresh Homemade Bread- wheat ground and hand kneaded

It looks like little sister baby dolls, snuggled and set on the bed just right...

It looks like long walks through our woods to the pond with only the company of my Heavenly Father and the dog.

It looks like sweet friendship...

And the fellowship of dear hearts

Like finding a car to share on the journey

And remembering where I am from

It looks like bowls of rice ready for a class of children who are enthusiastic to try their hands at eating with chop sticks

And dressing up to share with those same children some of what my life in China has been like

Sometimes it looks like a spiral of stairs leading to the top of a lighthouse where the light can shine the brightest guiding others to the Light of Lights

It looks like bright dresses and brick ruins...

It looks like being reminded of what are essentials in a Southern Girls wardrobe

And that white is worn after Easter!

It looks like watching an airshow from big brothers strong shoulders

It looks like yummy cheesecake made to celebrate the gift of sister and her birthday.

It looks like fresh farm picked strawberries

And it looks like sisters excitement at veggies picked from the garden for dinner tonight.

It looks like making the swing set fort into a big girls playhouse where sweet girls can cook and clean  and learn to care for their family and the guests they invite.

It looks like savoring coffee with friends and family- please pour me another cup!

It looks like running hard every day...

It looks like taking the boat out and smelling the flowers

It looks like a stack of books.

It looks like the encouragement of a friend, well mixed with family time

It looks like a reunion of families each embracing familiar Chinese baby faces, it looks like a smile of recognition and reaching arms asking for me to pick them up when it has been so very long since I last saw this one, it looks like tear blurred sight, and the look of a mother’s eyes as she reaches to wrap her arms around us both.  It looks like amazing love.  It is a vision of abounding grace.

What does it look like?  It looks like sand castles built on firm foundations of rock.  It looks like everyday moments that are becoming more precious to me as I consider the grace that gives them to me- the God who allows me to see in them the much greater work that He is doing in my life.