Umbrella Stranger

Image by Ron Dauphin via Flickr

The winter months always seem to get a good grip on me.  Not a lot is changing on the outside but a whole lot is unraveling and growing on the inside.  As I look around the room I’m in right now I see about a dozen messes that have been created by tiny hands.  Messes that represent creativity, imagination and chaos...the good kind.  It takes a lot for me to remember to breathe when I come face to face with a mess, but I am learning, and I am growing and I am letting go ...a little more than the year before.

There’s been a few heavy things on my heart that have seemed to gain some weight over the course of the year. It seems only fitting that my New Year begin with a resolution to unpack those pounds.  I’m so grateful that I don’t have to schedule an appointment with God, He waits for me to come to Him: constantly.  The past several weeks I had been seeking Him and His ways to overcome my frustration and disappointment. 

Earlier this week, we had some rain, the kind of rain that would typically inspire me.  But this was a day that I felt particularly heavy hearted. I knew that if I didn’t get myself and the kids out of the house it was going to be a day of mulling... in stereo...on repeat!

So, we put on a our rain gear and traipsed out into it for a few errands.  I made a couple phone calls on the way which seemed to go awry, intensifying the feeling of bleghh! and whhannnnnng!  I finally arrived in the parking lot of Walmart and was not enthusiastic about stepping out into the rain with all three kiddos. I prayed for strength; that I would not let my recent conversations keep me down and that I would be able focus on my beautiful, sweet kidlets.  I urged the girls to hold hands as we crossed the busy and wet parking lot.  Then, all of the sudden, to the right of me I saw a huge man approaching with the biggest smile.  He said, “Let me walk with you and let me hold my umbrella over you and the babies.  Let me do this for you”

I was amazed.

Grateful.

Speechless.

I felt special.

I looked at the kids and they seemed so excited to be walking under this man’s umbrella.  This man we didn’t know, who had the biggest umbrella we had ever seen and had a very strong fragrance about him, the only way to describe it was like sweet, sweet vanilla.

I got through the store, chatted with the clerk and left crazy old Walmart feeling like a person again.  

As I relayed my day to Phil and the events leading up to my grand entry into Walmart, hot and unexpected tears poured down my face.  Unusual as it may be, this particular prayer and response was almost immediate.  God sent someone to walk with me, to cover me and my children and reminded me that I never face trials unbeknownst to Him.  Whether or not this gentleman had a thing for vanilla fragrance I do not know, but in my opinion, he was bathed in the fragrance of Christ.

Prayer is still a mystery to me. I wish that God would show himself to me every time I open my heart in prayer, but He doesn’t and I on the other hand am not always tender enough to hear Him and see His glory reflected in others.

I was reading today in II Corinthians 3 :16-18

“But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Phil wrote a song with Michael Olson years ago called “Show me Your glory”.  To be honest, for awhile now, I have a had really hard time singing it.  It bothers me when Christians believe that God will do whatever our wills suggest.  After losing my brother almost 12 years ago, I’ve come to learn that sometimes we ask God to intervene and He does not.  Other times, when we least expect it, He sends complete strangers to walk with us and cover our heads in the pouring rain.  It is true, we cannot convince God to do what we will, but we can always choose to see God’s glory reflected in others.  Phil and Michael’s song will take on a new meaning for me now, the meaning I believe they intended originally.  God showed me His great glory through the Stranger with the umbrella.

So, this is what I think God wants me to do.  Yes my troubles are valid, and yes I’d rather be encouraging somebody rather than the one seeking it. Yet, I know that God sees all of those details.  So, I’m just gonna walk under that big, old umbrella and embrace the glory.